Courtesy: USC Athletics
Spieker Aquatics Complex
Series Record: USC leads 43-18 (W20)
Last Meeting: USC 10, Cal 8 (OT) (May 11, 2019)
Saturday, March 20 | 1 p.m.
LIVE STREAM: pac-12.com/live/
LIVE STATS: www.thefosh.net/live/
Sunday, March 21 | 1 p.m.
LIVE STATS: www.thefosh.net/live/
THIS WEEK
No. 1 USC kicks off conference action with a trip to Berkeley this weekend. The undefeated Trojans (6-0) will get their first official MPSF tests of 2021 with back-to-back games against California (5-2). The Trojans and Golden Bears will first face off on Saturday (March 20) at 1 p.m., and then square off again at 1 p.m. on Sunday (March 21) at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Complex.
RANKINGS
USC started this 2021 campaign in the same spot it wrapped up the shortened 2020 season — at No. 1 in the nation. The Trojans have remained in that top spot since those Feb. 7 preseason rankings, staying at No. 1 in this latest set of national rankings (released March 17).
SCOUTING CAL
The No. 6 Golden Bears are 5-2 overall and 0-2 in MPSF play after taking two losses to UCLA last week by scores of 11-5 and 9-8. Brigit Mulder and Reagan Whitney are Cal’s top scorers with 12 goals apiece. Goalie Cassidy Ball is averaging 5.9 saves and 8.9 goals-against per game in her seven appearances. In a series dating back to 1995, USC is 43-18 all-time against Cal with wins in the last 20 meetings. The teams did not meet last year due to the shortened 2020 season. In 2019, USC beat Cal 10-8 in overtime in the NCAA Semifinals. In two other meetings that year, USC won by scores of 8-3 during their MPSF meeting and 9-8 at the Barbara Kalbus Tournament.
BY THE NUMBERS
Six games deep into 2021 action, Maud Megens leads the Trojans in scoring with 16 goals. That effort has bumped the senior into the program’s top-10, as Megens now ranks No. 9 all-time in career scoring with 179 goals to date. In all, 12 different Trojans have scored so far this year. Senior goalie Holly Parker also has climbed the career ladder, now ranked as USC’s No. 8 all-time goalie with 187 career saves. Parker is averaging 8.0 saves and 6.1 goals-against per game in her four appearances in the cage this season, while sophomore Carolyne Stern has appeared in two games, averaging 5.5 saves and 6.0 goals-against per game, and Erin Tharp has checked in once, making four saves and allowing just a single goal in eight minutes of work. As a team, USC is averaging 13.0 goals per game offensively, while the defense has allowed 6.0 goals-against per game. The Trojans have held opponents scoreless in four complete periods so far.
LAST ACTION
USC was a force to reckon with in its second home game of the season, balancing an offensive onslaught with stingy defense to overpower visiting No. 9 UC Santa Barbara 21-3. Led by Mireia Guiral’s four-goal outburst, four other Trojans registered hat tricks on the day while the Trojan defense clamped down on the Gauchos. Four different scorers accounted for USC’s first four goals of the day before UC Santa Barbara broke through in the first. The final word of the frame came from Denise Mammolito, who ripped in her second goal to lift USC ahead 5-1 after eight minutes of action. The second was a similar story, with USC piling on five straight goals — including a pair from Verica Bakoc — to go up 10-1. The Gauchos got one to go before halftime, and the Trojans gripped a hefty 10-2 lead at the break. The third period saw all-out domination by the Trojans. With goalie Holly Parker as the defensive anchor, USC allowed no Gaucho goals in the third. Meanwhile, USC tallied eight goals of its own as Grace Tehaney, Mireia Guiral and Bakoc all had their hat tricks in-hand by the close of the frame. A sizzling backhand from Guiral registered her fourth of the day and took the Trojans ahead 17-2. With a minute left in the third, Tehaney hit Bayley Weber at the post for a tip-in that had USC up 18-2 entering the fourth. USC freshmen Julia Janov and Abigail Hendrix both had firsts in that final stretch, with Janov scoring twice to notch her first hat trick as a Trojan, and Hendrix knocking in her first career goal at USC. Goalie Erin Tharp checked into the cage for the fourth, hauling in four saves while giving up just a single Gaucho goal as the Trojans rounded out the 21-3 victory.
STRONG START
Almost a year to the day since its last competition at Uytengsu Aquatics Center, No. 1 USC got right back to business in drumming up a 12-7 win over visiting UC Irvine on Feb. 13. The Anteaters were actually USC’s last opponent at Uytengsu — a 9-6 Trojan win on Feb. 15, 2020. In this 2021 season opener, USC was powered up by a five-goal outing from Maud Megens and backed up by nine saves from Holly Parker to help the top-ranked Trojans to a 1-0 start to 2021. After Grace Tehaney lit the fuse on USC’s offensive efforts with a goal in the first minute, Maud Megens had a hat trick by the close the first quarter as USC netted a 4-1 lead after eight minutes of action. Goalie Holly Parker would snuff an early Anteater 6-on-5 chance with a save, and then Kelsey McIntosh found Téa Poljak for a score that got USC up 5-1 early in the second. UC Irvine converted on a power play later, only to see Megens hit Denise Mammolito for a 6-on-5 slam 10 seconds before the halftime buzzer, and USC was up 6-2 at the break. In the third, the Anteaters managed back-to-back goals to make it 6-4, only to see Megens bust out a laser on a 6-on-5 and then strike on the counter to build back that four-goal lead. Entering the fourth, USC was up 9-6, and the Trojans stayed in full control with three more goals in the final frame. Verica Bakoc struck first, and after Parker squashed an Anteater 5-meter penalty shot it was freshman Julia Janov who notched her first goal as a Trojan to take USC ahead 11-6. UC Irvine got a 6-on-5 to go next, but Grace Tehaney would wrap up her hat trick to get USC ahead 12-7, and the Trojans held tight to that lead the rest of the way.
MPSF WELCOMES BACK MEGENS WITH WEEKLY AWARD
In her first game back with the Trojans since May 2019, Maud Megens drummed up five goals in USC’s 2021 season-opening win over UC Irvine. For her dominant efforts, Megens was selected as the MPSF Player of the Week on Feb. 16. It’s the sixth such honor for Megens, who took the 2020 season off to train with the Dutch National Team in preparation for Olympic Qualifying. With Megens’ help, the Netherlands earned Olympic qualification last month to book a trip to Tokyo this summer. Now back in the water with her USC team, Megens stands tall for the Trojans. In addition to the five goals she scored for USC against UC Irvine, Megens also delivered four assists and had a steal in the 12-7 win. Megens is the first to earn MPSF Player of the Week accolades this season as women’s competition gets underway for 2021.
SUPER SENIORS
Captains Denise Mammolito and Kelsey McIntosh — both All-Americans — are back for a fifth season at USC after having their eligibility extended with last season’s mid-March cancellation, which had stalled out the 12-1 Trojans while ranked No. 1 in the nation. Mammolito and McIntosh’s experience and leadership is bolstered further by the return of All-American Maud Megens, who took the 2020 season off to train with her Dutch National Team. With the Netherlands’ Olympic qualification earned last month, Megens is back in the water with her fellow Women of Troy. USC’s depth charge of leadership includes another All-American in her fifth season at USC — goalie Holly Parker reflects the balance in the Trojans’ pool of experience for 2021. That foursome, along with seniors Verica Bakoc, Sabrina Garabet, Kari Jensen and Randi Reinhardt, already have one NCAA championship ring from 2018. And after missing the chance to claim a crown last season, this senior group is bound and determined to bring another trophy back to Troy in 2021.
DEPTH CHARGE
Seniors Verica Bakoc and Sabrina Garabet are joined by All-American Grace Tehaney as the Trojans’ trio of left-handed sharpshooters on the perimeter. More All-American talent shines though in junior Bayley Weber, with her ability to be a force at both ends of the pool. Fellow junior Claire Haas has grown in her role at the two-meter slot, where Randi Reinhardt also checks in and junior Mireia Guiral has proven herself an All-American power. Starting up their second seasons at USC, the Trojans have Brooklyn Aguilera, Christina Crum and Téa Poljak in line for increased action in 2021, along another solid junior in Sophia Lucas. Additionally, USC has a welcome boost of fresh talent in a set of four true freshmen in the field — Abigail Hendrix, Julia Janov, Hannah Meyer and Taylor Vangrin.
CAGE FIGHTERS
Meanwhile, USC’s goalkeeping corps has a formidable stash of experience and skill. All-American Holly Parker is the veteran of the group, but both redshirt sophomore Erin Tharp and true sophomore Carolyne Stern saw time between the pipes last year. All told, USC’s defense will have a reliable red cap backing it up regardless of who checks in. And with defensive savvy abounding, USC has all the ingredients to be a dangerous counterattacking team as well.