No. 4 USC Women’s Water Polo Caps Regular Season Saturday vs. UCLA at Uytengsu
#4 USC (17-5, 4-1) vs. #1 UCLA (20-0, 5-0)
Saturday, April 20 | 2 p.m. | Uytengsu Aquatics Center
Series Record (since 1995): USC trails 40-53 (W4)
Last Meeting: USC 14, UCLA 9 (April 22, 2023)
TV: Pac-12 Los Angeles (Announcer: Greg Mescall)
STREAM | STATS
THIS WEEK
USC is back in home waters this week to set up for a Senior Day matchup against rival UCLA. The Trojans and Bruins will clash in the regular-season finale at 2 p.m. on Saturday (April 20) at Uytengsu Aquatics Center, and will celebrate seven graduating Trojans — Brooklyn Aguilera, Alejandra Aznar, Molly Glad, Abigail Hendrix, Julia Janov, Hannah Meyer and Carolyne Stern.
RANKINGS
USC opened up 2024 tied at No. 1 in the national rankings. After the first week of action, the Trojans stood alone at the top. In the latest round of rankings (released April 17), USC currently stands at No. 4 in the nation.
LAST ACTION
USC captured another key MPSF win today behind a career-high four goals from sophomore Morgan Netherton, who helped pace the Trojans to a 14-10 win over host No. 10 Arizona State. USC shut out the Sun Devils in the second period while amassing an 8-0 scoring surge to take control of things. USC delivered the first two goals of the day before the Sun Devils capitalized on back-to-back 5-meter penalty shots to draw even six minutes into the action. From there, however, the Trojans hit another gear. While holding the Sun Devils scoreless for 13 minutes, USC rattled off eight straight goals to make it a 10-2 lead in the third frame. Alejandra Aznar, Rachel Gazzaniga and Hannah Meyer each plugged in a pair of goals during the surge, with Meyer lacing in a late lob to close down the first half as a 9-2 USC advantage. The Sun Devils found some firepower in the second half, but USC's dominant start was too big of an obstacle. Netherton, meanwhile, kept striking for the Trojan cause, scoring twice in the second half to get to her career-high four on the day, while Aznar and Janov had their hat tricks in place by the final buzzer as USC emerged with the 14-10 victory.
NOTABLE:
- With four goals, Netherton set a new career high.
- Janov's three goals tied her career high.
- With her goals, Janov has now scored in a team-high 20 games this season.
- With two goals, Gazzaniga is tied with Janov for a team-high 15 multiple-goal outings this season.
- Gazzaniga now leads USC in scoring with 43 goals this season.
- With three goals, Aznar now ranks No. 21 all-time in scoring at USC with 138 career goals.
- With two goals, Meyer tied her career high.
- USC has now won 20 straight games against Arizona State.
SWEEPS WEEK
USC swept the MPSF weekly awards after the Trojans captured a key win over No. 2 California. Both instrumental in the victory, Carolyne Stern and Ava Stryker secured their first honors of the season, with Stern selected as MPSF Player of the Week and Stryker as MPSF Newcomer of the Week. Stern hauled in 12 saves in No. 5 USC's 8-7 win over No. 2 Cal, making several key stops in the fourth period to stymie the Golden Bears' attempts at a late comeback. It was Stern's fifth double-digit save outing of the season, and helped USC improve to 14-4 overall with a 1-0 mark in MPSF competition. This is Stern's second career selection as MPSF Player of the Week, last earned in 2022. Stryker was 3-for-5 shooting in against the Golden Bears. She scored twice in the first period to help keep USC even with Cal, tying it up 3-3 in that first frame. In the third, Stryker finished a USC 6-on-5 for her third goal and an 8-5 USC lead, proving to stand as the game-winning goal as USC emerged with the 8-7 win. She also notched a steal, assist and drawn exclusion in the victory. With her hat trick vs. Cal, Stryker now leads USC in scoring with 37 goals, and she has scored at least a goal in USC's last 12 games.
BY THE NUMBERS
As the Trojans top off the regular season, USC's balanced scoring charge is led by Rachel Gazzaniga with 43 goals each, followed by Julia Janov with 42, Ava Stryker with 41, and Alejandra Aznar with 39. In all, 17 Trojans have scored at least one goal to date, including six with their first goals as Trojans. Defensively, three USC goalies have factored into the 17-5 mark, led by senior Carolyne Stern. Stern is averaging 8.7 saves per game thanks in part to her five double-digit save outings this year. USC's other two goalies — Laine Hourigan and Jada Ward — are in their second season of action as Trojans. Overall, the group averages 8.3 saves per game to anchor a Trojan defense giving up 7.6 goals per game. USC has outscored opponents 286-167 so far, while holding teams scoreless in 11 different periods to date.
CAREER CLIMBERS
Two Trojans are on the rise in the USC history books with their work this season. Goalie Carolyne Stern has moved up to No. 4 all-time among USC goalies, now holding 549 career saves after passing up Olympian Tumua Anae's 534 saves from 2007-10. Alejandra Aznar, meanwhile, is up to No. 21 all-time in career scoring with 138 goals — four goals shy of making it a four-way tie at No. 18.
OVERSEAS ACHIEVERS
International experience has been key to USC's development of versatile players. The USA pipeline has crafted a number of outstanding Trojans — past, present and future, including Team USA's Emily Ausmus, who deferred her freshman enrollment at USC in order to train for the 2024 Olympics. Many other U.S. pipeline products will be capped up for USC this season, including Morgan Netherton, Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker, who competed for the USA at Junior Worlds this past summer. Abigail Hendrix, Maggie Johnson, Meghan McAninch, Hannah Meyer, Carolyne Stern, Honnie Vandeweghe-O'Shea and Isabel Zimmerman also have capped up for the USA at the Youth level. Outside of the United States, several returning Trojans have also gathered international experience with other nations — Alejandra Aznar (Spain), Julia Janov (Slovakia), Emma Lawson (Canada), Fanni Muzsnay (Hungary), Jelena Sarac (Serbia).
CENTER STAGE
USC is without one decorated Trojan international for 2024, as Olympian and Cutino Award finalist Tilly Kearns is training with Australia for the 2024 Olympic Games. That leaves a void at the center position for this season, but head coach Casey Moon has tapped into his handy toolkit in order to adjust. In addition to the proven work done at set by senior Hannah Meyer, Moon has eyes on incorporating newcomer national teamer Rachel Gazzaniga along with sophomore Alex Bonaguidi for increased action, with new addition Madison Haaland-Ford also in the mix at the center slot.
ON THE ATTACK
In the field, USC is fueled by an arsenal of attackers along with deft defenders to go along with its center play. Molly Glad, Abigail Hendrix, Emma Lawson, Jelena Sarac and Honnie Vandeweghe-O'Shea are tabbed for duty on the defensive end, while also set to take aim offensively from the perimeter. USC's onslaught of attackers features newcomers Meghan McAninch and Ava Stryker to go along with veterans Alejandra Aznar, Julia Janov and Fanni Muzsnay, who combined for 88 goals last season. As freshmen, attackers Maggie Johnson and Morgan Netherton pinned up a combine 34 goals. All versatile tools in Moon's box of tricks, the USC attacking core also includes Brooklyn Aguilera, Hannah Carver, Caitlin Cohen, Sally McCarthy and Isabel Zimmerman.
BACK IN ACTION
USC boasts nine returners from USC's 2023 NCAA roster, which reached the NCAA final in the program's 19th straight trip to the postseason to finish with a 29-3 overall record. Maggie Johnson and Morgan Netherton were freshmen on that squad, bringing back key lessons learned along with the other seven members of the returning group that was on deck for that NCAA journey — Brooklyn Aguilera, Alejandra Aznar, Molly Glad, Abigail Hendrix, Hannah Meyer, Carolyne Stern, Honnie Vandeweghe-O'Shea, Jada Ward and Isabel Zimmerman.
CAPTAIN'S SALUTE
Goalie Carolyne Stern is joined by Julia Janov and Maggie Johnson as team captains for 2024. All were instrumental in USC's NCAA run last season, and Janov and Stern are now entering their fourth season playing together. That combined experience and leadership ability gives coach Moon the utmost confidence in his three captains, who are charged with setting the tone and the course for the Trojans in 2024.
CAGE FIGHTERS
A 2023 All-American, Carolyne Stern enters her final season between the pipes. She's been a steadying and reliable force in the cage for USC, thanks in part to the talented younger goalies in the water with her every day. Sophomore Jada Ward and redshirt sophomore Laine Hourigan both served as outstanding backups for Stern last year, and they are joined by two true freshmen this season in Anna Reed and Lauren Schneider to round out a formidable goalkeeping corps for the 2024 Trojans. In her first weekend of work, Stern surged to now rank as USC's No. 6 all-time saves leader, now with 403 career saves to her name as a Trojan.
LAST SEASON
In 2023, USC went 28-3 overall in a season that saw the Trojans make a 19th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. USC posted a perfect 6-0 mark in MPSF competition before taking second place in the MPSF Tournament and later reaching a fifth consecutive NCAA final, where USC lost to Stanford. At the close of the season, Tilly Kearns was selected as a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award for the second straight season. She also was a First Team All-American along with Paige Hauschild and Bayley Weber. They were joined by fellow All-Americans Carolyne Stern (Honorable Mention) and Grace Tehaney (Honorable Mention). Head coach Marko Pintaric was named MPSF Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season, and Weber was named MPSF Player of the Year. •