Women of Troy will face National Team


The No. 3 ranked Women of Troy (2-0) will look to follow up their successful opening weekend at the UCLA Invitational with a good showing at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The U.S. Women’s National Team will come to Troy for a scrimmage on Wednesday evening.

Losing a bulk of their senior leadership and scoring to graduation last spring, this young Trojan squad will look to gain some experience when playing this friendly.

Led by senior captain and First Team All-American Monica Vavic, the Women of Troy have a number of weapons on the roster. Vavic leads the team with already 14 goals through just two games, while sophomores Stephania and Ioanna Haralabidis punched in eight goals each.

Even the newcomers did their part over the weekend; seven new players scored in the first two matchups, and freshman goalie Victória Chamorro racked up nine saves in her first two showings in the cage for USC.

Coach Vavic has always had high expectations for his freshmen.

“This is a very good class,” Vavic said, “I think we have some serious water polo players here — girls who are most likely going to continue playing polo after college.”

The connection has been strong between the underclassmen and the upperclassmen even before the season started.

“I think the chemistry with this team is very good,” Vavic said “We have, I think, good leadership. I think that the younger girls are very respectful and are hungry, and the youth of the team is more connected for whatever reason than it was last year. The chemistry between the freshmen and the seniors last year was good but this year, it’s great.”

Wednesday’s scrimmage will be preparation for the upcoming Triton Invitational at UC San Diego starting on Feb. 7, where USC will start off with a match-up against Cal State East Bay at 8:30 a.m. PST.