USC Sets Up Defense Of MPSF Championship in Westwood
April 28, 2010 | Women's Water Polo
April 28, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK
USC makes the plunge into the postseason this week with a fresh focus on making a couple championship runs. The defending MPSF champs first set up to engage in battle at the 2010 MPSF Championships as the No. 2 seed in the tourney. UCLA hosts this year's conference championship action at Spieker Aquatics Center in Westwood from April 30-May 2. The Women of Troy (20-2) open up against No. 7 seed San Diego State (20-13) in the first round at 10 a.m. on Friday (April 30). A win would put the Trojans in the semifinals against either No. 3 seed Cal (23-6) or No. 6 seed San Jose State at 3 p.m. on Saturday (May 1). The MPSF championship game -- where the automatic bid to the coming NCAA Championships goes on the line -- will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday (May 2), preceded by the third-place game at 1:30 p.m.
IN THE RANKINGS
USC and Stanford have traded the No. 1 slot in the national rankings this season. The Cardinal held the top spot for the first five weeks of the year until the Trojans took over on March 3. USC moves back to No. 2 this week after seven weeks at No. 1.
BY THE NUMBERS
USC enters the week with Joelle Bekhazi as its scoring leader with 46 goals to date. Kally Lucas -- who hit the century mark in career scoring on April 3 -- is next with 33. Freshman Patricia Jancso and senior Kami Craig hold 30 apiece. Craig recently moved into the No. 8 all-time scoring slot in the Trojan history books, having passed up fellow Cutino Award winner and Olympian Lauren Wenger and fellow U.S. National Teamer Erika Figge this year before stepping into the No. 8 position and currently boasting 146 career goals. In the cage, goalie Tumua Anae leads the MPSF in saves per game with 10.14 spg, having posted double-digit saves in 12 of the past 13 games for the Trojans. She also stands as USC's all-time career saves leader on record with 482 to date. As a team, USC is No. 1 among MPSF teams in defense, allowing just 5.0 goals per game. Offensively, USC also stands at No. 1 in the conference with 12.59 goals per game.
POWER HUNGRY
• USC defense hasn't allowed more than seven goals in the past 19 games.
• Forel Davies has lost just one opening sprint in her last 41 consecutive sprints.
• Tumua Anae has recorded at least 10 saves in the 12 of the past 13 games.
• Joelle Bekhazi has scored at least two goals in 11 of the past 12 games.
• USC has won 18 straight games at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
MPSF RUNDOWN
USC's 6-1 finish in MPSF regular-season play puts the Trojans (20-2) as the No. 2 seed for this year's MPSF Championships hosted by UCLA. Stanford (22-1) winds up as the No. 1 seed followed by Cal (23-6) at No. 3 and Hawai'i (16-7) at No. 4. The rest of the seedings fell out as No. 5 UCLA (17-7), No. 6 San Jose State (16-12), No. 7 San Diego State (20-13) and No. 8 Arizona State (16-12).
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
USC clinched the automatic seed to the NCAA Tournament with USC's first MPSF Championship since 2004 and second all-time in winning the 2009 title. The top-seeded Women of Troy found themselves in a halftime hole but turned things around and had a big second half to register a 6-5 win over No. 2 seed Stanford in the title match of the MPSF Championships in Hawai'i, running USC's win streak to 14 straight. Tied up and facing a Stanford 6-on-5 with under two minutes to go in the MPSF Championship game, USC turned away the Cardinal power play. In the final minute of regulation, USC's Forel Davies plugged in what would go down as the game-winner. Davies' goal capped off a five-goal second-half surge by the Trojans, who held Stanford to just a single second-half goal in order to manufacture their winning comeback. USC had opened the MPSF Tournament with a 12-6 win over Arizona State to move into the semis, where the Trojans topped Cal 7-4 to go into the title match.
LAST WEEK
USC had its winning streak snapped at 18 in a tough overtime loss to host Stanford last week. Following a 13-6 win over San Jose State the previous day, the Trojans squared off against the Cardinal on Stanford's Senior Day. USC took a 4-1 lead in the game but Stanford cut it to a one-goal game by halftime. The Cardinal would take a late lead, up 6-5 and poised to win in regulation before Kristen Dronberger equalized things with six seconds left in putting in a rebound. In the first overtime, USC missed its opening 6-on-5 chance, and Stanford would go on to get up on a 6-on-4. The Cardinal scored on that opportunity, and the lead would hold through the next frame of OT to leave Stanford with the victory and the rights to the top seed at this week's MPSF Championships.
SENIOR CLASS
In their final game at McDonald's Swim Stadium, USC's senior class combined forces for another powerful win over crosstown rival No. 4 UCLA. A nine-goal scoring surge rolled the Trojans well out of reach of the visiting Bruins, as USC captured a 14-5 win over UCLA. Seniors Kami Craig, Alexandra Kiss and Kally Lucas combined for eight goals on the day, while Forel Davies was perfect on opening sprints and goalie Tumua Anae turned away 14 Bruin shots in the win. The Trojans and the Bruins stayed close in the first frame before USC busted loose with nine straight goals thanks to a cool 7-0 shutout in the second period of play. The victory was USC's 17th straight win of the year and kept USC undefeated at home for the second straight season. For Anae's solid stand in the cage during the match, the senior was named MPSF Player of the Week for the fifth time in her career. In total this year, USC's senior field players have combined for 111 goals -- 40 percent of the team's scoring -- while Anae stands as USC's leader on record in career saves (482) and single-season saves (232 in 2008).
HOME POOL ADVANTAGE
USC's win over UCLA on April 17 rounded out another undefeated home season for the Women of Troy, marking the program's eighth season overall with a flawless stand in USC's home waters. So far, USC has completed undefeated runs at home in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009. That puts USC's home win streak at 18 straight victories at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
NOT A TYPO
It's been over a decade since the Trojans so decisively dominated their crosstown rival UCLA as they did at the Stanford Invitational on February 7. After streaking ahead of the Bruins 8-0 in the game, USC pinned up a 13-3 victory over UCLA in the third-place game at the tourney. The Trojans and Bruins played out one-goal games last season in three meetings, and UCLA had won 10 straight games until USC snapped the streak with an 8-7 win in their first clash last year. In 1999, USC beat UCLA 11-1. The last time USC beat UCLA back-to-back was in 2006, and the Trojans made sure to match that mark with last weekend's powerful 14-5 win over the Bruins. The rivals could well face again during postseason tournament play, giving USC the opportunity to post its first three-win stretch against UCLA since 1999. USC went 6-0 against the Bruins that year en route to the Trojans' first national championship.
TAKEOVER TIME
USC recaptured the top slot in the national rankings after a powerful championship run at the UC Irvine Invitational. The Trojans entered the tournament as the second-seeded team, beating Long Beach State 12-1 and then San Jose State 15-5 to earn a place in the semifinals, with 13 different Trojans scoring on the first day of play in Irvine. In the semifinals, Kally Lucas scored four for the Trojans as they beat Cal 10-5 win for a spot in the title match against top-seeded Stanford. There, USC avenged its only previous loss of the season and captured a key tournament championship along the way as the Women of Troy slammed No. 1 Stanford with a 10-6 win. The Trojans piled up an 8-2 lead by halftime, and Patricia Jancso finished with a hat trick en route to USC's big title win over the Cardinal. In handing the Cardinal its first loss of the year, USC extended its win streak to nine after taking a 10-7 loss to Stanford in the Stanford Invitational semifinals earlier in the month.
FORCE TO RECKON WITH
When senior Forel Davies isn't speeding through opening sprints or clamping down with her defensive prowess, she's been doing some equally serious damage at the other end of the pool. Davies has proven herself a true offensive threat for the Trojans, hitting a new season high for herself with 25 goals to date -- with plenty of water polo left to play. Davies' scoring ability is no big surprise, but the senior did turn some heads when she doubled up her previous career high scoring mark, nailing six goals to the back of the cage in a win over Long Beach weeks ago.
SWEEPS WEEK
After a winning week of MPSF and tournament competition, USC placed two players at the top of the list for MPSF weekly honors. Senior Kami Craig earned her third career MPSF Player of the Week award, and freshman Patricia Jancso was selected the MPSF Newcomer of the Week -- a new award bestowed on the top first-year player among MPSF teams each week. The pair combined for five goals in USC's 10-6 upset of Stanford in the championship game at the UC Irvine Invitational. Craig opened the week with a four-goal game in USC's MPSF opener against Hawai'i, and she added four more goals during the UCI Invite. Jancso scored nine goals in five games during the week, scoring in all five games. She topped out with a hat trick in the title match against Stanford. Now USC's third leading scorer with 30 goals to date, Jancso has since picked up another MPSF Newcomer of the Week award with another selection on March 8.
WORLDLY ALL-AMERICANS
USC returns a fistful of All-Americans to the roster for 2009, and the group also hauls in added experience from international action during the offseason. 2008 U.S. Olympic silver-medalist and 2009 Cutino Award winner Kami Craig was joined by fellow Trojan All-Americans Tumua Anae, Forel Davies and Kristen Dronberger for U.S. National Team training. Anae, Davies and Dronberger all competed for Team USA at the Canada Cup in December, paying a visit to another USC All-American, Joelle Bekhazi, who is a member of the Canadian National Team. It was a Trojan All-American reunion again at the 2009 Holiday Cup as well, with Bekhazi again on the Canada roster and Craig and Davies capping up for the USA.
LAST SEASON
USC had a powerful 2009 season, racking up a 26-2 overall record that included a regular-season overtime loss to Stanford and a 5-4 loss to UCLA in the NCAA championship game. The Trojans made their third appearance in the national title match in four years and had beaten UCLA twice in one-goal games prior to the championship bout. The Women of Troy had beaten Stanford 5-4 in the MPSF tournament title match to clinch the automatic seed to the NCAA Tournament with USC's first MPSF Championship since 2004 and second all-time. Kami Craig went on to win the Peter J. Cutino Award, and was one of six Trojans to be named a 2009 All-American.
