USC is handed back-to-back defeats over weekend

The No. 3 USC women’s swimming and diving team traveled to Northern California this weekend with the goal of beating top-ranked Stanford and Cal in two dual meets.

Unfortunately, for the Women of Troy (8-2, 2-2) they were handed two back-to-back losses instead.

On Friday, Cal (5-0, 3-0) had the upper hand in almost all races.

The Golden Bears set a pool record at home in the 400y medley relay and finished off their win when the Cal freshmen finished 1-2-3 in the 200y backstroke.

With that loss behind them, the team went on to face No. 1 Stanford Saturday, who ended up winning 161.5-136.6.

“The women came away with two tough losses against two of the absolute best teams in college swimming,” USC coach Dave Salo told the team’s website. “Each loss came down to missed opportunities in several very tight races. I am certain what we learned this weekend on the road will better prepare us to compete well at the Pac-10 Championships.”

While the team as a whole did not find very much success in this weekend’s competitions, there were several swimmers who performed well against the Golden Bears and the Cardinal.

Sophomore Haley Anderson won two events in each of the meets: the 1000y free and the 500y free.

Senior co-captain Lyndsay DePaul, junior Katinka Hosszu and freshman Kasey Carlson also won one event each against Cal and Stanford, but these individual efforts were not enough in the end to defeat the two powerhouse schools.

Even with their two losses, senior co-captain Presley Bard expressed confidence in the team’s abilities to do better next time.

“It’s hard that we lost and it’s really tough to deal with … but we just have to take the positives from it,” Bard said. “Not everything always goes as planned and not everything goes well. You gotta roll with the punches and swim as fast as you can.”

The Women of Troy will host UCLA at their last dual meet of the season Feb. 12 at noon.