USC
Hartwick
No. 1 USC Opens Season With 18-4 Home Win
February 04, 2009 | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 4, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The top-ranked USC women's water polo team kicked out to a strong start to the 2009 season with a balanced 18-4 win over visiting No. 14 Hartwick in the Trojans' home opener on Wednesday evening. Senior Michelle Stein was joined by freshman Nadia Dan with hat tricks on the day, while freshman goalie Ilse van der Meijden racked up 12 saves in the cage. After a slow start to the game, the Women of Troy shut out the Hawks in the third frame. By the final whistle, USC had five Trojans on the board with their first career goals, as Dan was joined in the scoring column by Joelle Bekhazi, Kara-Leigh Huse, Stephanie Lavayen and Rosanna Tomiuk. The win gives No. 1 USC a 1-0 record as the team now turns to a trip to the Stanford Invitational this weekend in Palo Alto, Calif.
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Hartwick had the first word of the game with an early score from Kirsten Hudson for a 1-0 lead that the Trojans answered at 6:28 with a 6-on-5 strike from Stein. Alexandra Kiss had her first of two scores with a sneaky score from the perimeter to get USC ahead 2-1, but the Hawks' Jessica McKee would deliver and equalize on a lob at 1:51. USC earned another power play late in the period, however, and Bekhazi punched in her first collegiate goal as a Trojan with seven seconds to go, giving USC a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
USC misfired on a couple early 6-on-5s in the second, but Kami Craig earned another one for the Trojans at the 3:30 mark. Bekhazi hit Kristen Dronberger for the finish, and USC was out to a 4-2 lead. Less than a minute later, Kara-Leigh Huse had her first USC goal after taking a pass from Jordan Anae and depositing it in the back of the net for a 5-2 lead. Hartwick would get a backhand from Shann Ells-Tewhiu through at 2:07, but USC gathered steam for halftime with a rocket from Anae at 1:03 to lift USC to a 6-3 lead by halftime.
Coming into the second half, USC found its focus and plugged in five straight scores while the Trojan defense silenced the Hawks. Rosanna Tomiuk and Nadia Dan dealt out their first goals at Trojans to start and finish the frame, while Stein knocked in back-to-back scores and Kiss put in her second of the day to take USC ahead 11-3 entering the fourth period. There, USC ballooned its scoring run to 10 straight goals. Tomiuk nabbed a steal and Kami Craig ripped in a goal out of set for a 12-3 lead to open the fourth. Dan and Bekhazi each hit home again, and redshirt freshman Stephanie Lavayen slotted her first career score during the run that carried USC ahead 15-3. Hartwick's Barbara Amaro got one to go at 1:51, only to see USC's Sarah Van Norman and Kally Lucas join their teammates in the scoring column and Dan top things off with her third of the night with a 6-on-5 score with 40 seconds remaining. That capped off the 18-4 win for the Women of Troy and rounded out the offensive onslaught with 12 different USC scorers.
#1 USC 18, #14 Hartwick 4
HART 2 - 1 - 0 - 1 -- 4
USC 3 - 3 - 5 - 7 -- 18
SCORING:
USC - Michelle Stein 3, Nadia Dan 3, Alexandra Kiss 2, Joelle Bekhazi 2, Kristen Dronberger, Kara-Leigh Huse, Jordan Anae, Rosanna Tomiuk, Kami Craig, Stephanie Lavayen, Kally Lucas, Sarah Van Norman.
HART - Kirsten Hudson, Jessica McKee, Shann Ells-Tewhiu, Barbara Amaro.
SAVES: Ilse van der Meijden (USC) 12, Courtney Ray (USC) 0, Jessica Dorman (HART) 5.
