Women of Troy dive into MPSF Tournament as No. 3 seed

The No. 3 USC women’s water polo team (21-3, 4-2 MPSF) heads to Tempe, Arizona, this weekend to begin postseason play in the MPSF conference tournament. Up first in the conference tournament for third-seeded USC is No. 6 seed San Jose State.

The Women of Troy are coming off a huge 9-5 loss to UCLA on April 18. Not too often has USC lost by such a large deficit this late in the season, especially with a 5-4 score going into the fourth quarter.

Head coach Jovan Vavic felt good about his team at that point.

“We were fighting to get back,” Vavic said. “We were down 4-1, and I felt the momentum was in our favor. With being down 4-1 and being in their pool, it looked like we were done. I thought we did a great job to score two goals in the third, making it a one goal game going into the fourth quarter. I felt we were in really good shape. I felt that this is where we wanted to be, a close game in the fourth quarter.”

But as Vavic explained, the tide turned very quickly for USC.

“What happened really was that when we had our chance in the first possession of the fourth quarter, we didn’t score the goal. We gave up an immediate goal, and the counterattack that happened after that possession really was huge for UCLA. It was really a killer because we gave up that goal immediately, and it kind of took the wind out of our sails after they scored that. And then the very next possession, same thing happened again. It really hurt us. They basically had a 7-4 lead with six minutes to go.”

Now the Women of Troy have to switch gears from regular season play to the conference tournament. And even after coming off a loss, they are still staying positive, knowing that there is a lot more water polo to be played.

“[We are staying positive by] just knowing that the season isn’t over. We still have six games to really make it happen, and dwelling on something like that isn’t gonna help us,” said senior Eike Daube.

Right now, the only team that the Women of Troy are dwelling on is San Jose State. USC beat the Spartans earlier this year at home in a 21-6 blowout. One would think it would be a similar result this time around, but last year USC lost in the first round to what many thought was an inferior Arizona State team. According to Daube, the Women of Troy have no plans to incur the same result this year.

“ASU beating us last year was probably one of the toughest losses we took last year,” Daube said. “I think we underestimated them in a lot of regards, and when we went into the game we weren’t having the same energy and approach to them as we would maybe UCLA or Stanford, but that’s something that we don’t plan on doing with [San Jose State]. I think we take every game very seriously.”

USC, without a doubt, has the capability of beating the Spartans, but to win the tournament they’ll most likely have to face both UCLA and Stanford. USC played close games against both teams until running out of gas near the end. Freshman goalie Victória Chamorro said this is a pattern that the team will have to eliminate.

“Towards the end, we are not as energetic as we are at the beginning, but that’s something that we are working to fix,” Chamorro said. “We are not going to be giving a lack of energy in these next games.”

If the conference tournament and a possible NCAA berth isn’t enough motivation, however, the Women of Troy will want to prove that they can beat their crosstown rival.

Daube said the team will be back to get even with UCLA.

“No one can take a loss very easy, and knowing that that’s our biggest rival, I think if you look back at it we’ve lost four consecutive games against them from last year going into this year, so I think it’s definitely time that we show them what we’re made of,” he said.