USC
California (3rd Place)
USC Takes Fourth At UC Irvine Invitational
February 24, 2008 | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 24, 2008
IRVINE, CALIF. - The No. 3 USC women's water polo team was edged out in two games on the final day of the UC Irvine Invitational, finishing in fourth place at the competitive tourney. The semifinals put the Trojans up against No. 2 Stanford, and the Cardinal managed a 7-6 overtime win to move into the final while USC played No. 4 Cal for third place. Another tight match ensued for the Women of Troy, who saw the Bears pull out a 9-8 win to leave USC in fourth place and with an 8-4 overall record.
In both games, the Women of Troy were able to get leads on their opponents, but offense stalled out in the late stretches. In the semifinals against the Cardinal, the Trojan defense was strong, anchored by a career-high 13 saves from goalie Tumua Anae. She had six saves in the first period alone, including a one-on-one strike and two six-on-five stops as USC took a 2-1 lead on scores from Veronika Bartunkova and Forel Davies. Stanford went up 3-2 in the second before Alison Riddle delivered a bar-down skipper to even things 3-3 by halftime.
In the third period against Stanford, USC shut out the Cardinal, as Anae again tallied a pair of stops on Stanford power plays. The Trojans offense, meanwhile, got a man-up skipper from Michelle Stein, a slick backhand from set by Kristen Dronberger and a smooth lob from Alexandra Kiss. Things changed in the fourth period, however. Stanford was able to finish off a 6-on-5 early to make it 6-4. Then the Cardinal connected on two close-range strikes to tie it up 6-6 with 2:47 to go. USC couldn't come up with an answer the rest of the way, however. After a scoreless first overtime period, Stanford broke through a minute into the next frame with a backhand out of set by Koree Blyleven put the Cardinal up 7-6, while USC misfired on its offensive series to come up short of a spot in the championship match.
Facing Cal in the third-place game, USC fell behind 3-2 in the first period but answered it with a shutout in the second frame along with three straight goals to take a 5-3 lead early in the third period. Both offenses picked up in the third. Cal tied things 5-5, and the teams stayed match the rest of the period for an 8-8 lockup going into the fourth period. With 4 minutes left, Cal's Meghan Corso scored for a 9-8 Bears advantage that the Trojans were unable to answer, leaving Cal with the third-place finish.
After getting six goals from six different scorers against Stanford, USC's offense against Cal came from five players, led by a hat trick from Veronika Bartunkova and two goals from Alexandra Kiss. Goalie Tumua Anae had eight saves against the Bears, while Cal goalie Heather Stuart pulled in 12 saves.
USC will return home for its next competition, taking a 40-game home win streak into two matches. The Trojans first host LMU in a 5 p.m. game on Friday (Feb. 29), then takes on MPSF opponent Cal State Northridge at 12 p.m. on Saturday (March 1).
2008 UC IRVINE INVITATIONAL
Feb. 24 - Irvine, Calif.
Semifinals
#2 Stanford 7, #3 USC 6
USC 2 - 1 - 3 - 0 -- 0 - 0 = 6
STAN 1 - 2 - 0 - 3 -- 0 - 1 = 7
SCORING:
USC -- Veronika Bartunkova, Forel Davies, Alison Riddle, Alexandra Kiss, Michelle Stein, Kristen Dronberger.
STAN -- Kira Hillman 2, Jacquelyn Gauthier 2, Heather West, Lauren Silver, Koree Blyleven.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 13, Amber Oland (STAN) 10.
Third Place
#4 Cal 9, #3 USC 8
CAL 3 - 0 - 5 - 1 = 9
USC 2 - 2 - 4 - 0 = 8
SCORING:
USC -- Veronika Bartunkova 3, Alexandra Kiss 2, Julie Spataru, Forel Davies, Michelle Stein.
CAL -- Meghan Corso 3, Molly Hayes 2, Paige Lorenz, Darby Anderson, Melissa Wheeler, Stephanie Schnugg.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 8, Heather Stuart (CAL) 12
