Trojans continue dominant run with a pair of wins over San José State

The No. 1 women’s water polo team stayed perfect after a doubleheader win over No. 17 San José State this past weekend at home. The Trojans are 10-0 overall and 4-0 in MPSF conference play this season.

The two-game series kicked off Saturday with an afternoon game in which junior driver Grace Tehaney and redshirt senior goalie Holly Parker matched career highs — Tehaney getting 5 goals for the Trojans and Parker recording 10 saves from the Spartans.

Redshirt senior utility Maud Megens and driver Kelsey McIntosh did not play in either game, a joint decision made to let them rest and recover from another conditioning cycle.

USC was quick from the first whistle, scoring four unanswered in the first period, thanks to an array of players. Redshirt senior driver Denise Mammolito scored on a 5-meter penalty while senior driver Sabrina Garabet, junior utility Bayley Weber and Tehaney each scored points of their own. The Trojans followed up a busy offensive first period with five more goals in the second; the former was where SJSU was able to make some headway with a successful 6-on-5 drive and one from the field.

Carrying a 9-2 lead into the half, the offensive energy would diminish significantly for the Trojans, with the group getting just two more from Tehaney followed by a scoreless fourth period for both teams. A fresh rotation in junior utility Claire Haas, senior driver Kari Jensen, freshman 2-meter Hannah Meyer, sophomore utility Brooklyn Aguilera, senior 2-meter Randi Reinhardt and freshman driver Julia Janov allowed USC to work on their hard press on defense and move the ball around on man-ups with a greater number of players. 

“It definitely worked well. We’re trying to, with these changes in rotations … [communicate] the message that we need everybody to compete for the spot on a team,” head coach Marko Pintaric said. “I think the younger players and players that don’t play a lot of minutes use their minutes wisely. And there’s definitely some promising minutes that we got from the players and indications that we could use players more … and [increase] rotations in the future.”

The Trojans would better their 11-5 Saturday win by one point Sunday, earning six in each half with hat tricks from Mammolito and Weber, two each from junior 2-meter Mireia Guiral and Tehaney, one from senior driver Verica Bakoc and junior utility Sophia Lucas’ first goal of the year. 

While the Spartans were only able to grab one point in the first half of Sunday’s game, four goals conceded in the final two periods indicated a pattern of second-half defensive fatigue, something the Trojans have been working on for multiple seasons.

Sophomore goalies Carolyne Stern and redshirt Erin Tharp were able to get some time in net, with three and one period, respectively and a combined 10 saves, further showing the potential of a Trojan squad that is using both experience and energy from new players to fuel its undefeated run.

Next weekend the Trojans will head to Indiana for two conference games against the Hoosiers on April 2 and 3, the first of four-straight MPSF opponents they’ll play heading into the conference championship in Tempe, Ariz. at the end of the month. Pintaric and company start bright and early in Bloomington at 9 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday, PDT. 

“I’m looking forward for, our team to execute any roles their … coaches are putting them through,” Pintaric said. “ That’s why it’s really pleasure to coach this team because they are serious and they accept job duties, very responsibly and, again, they are looking forward to maybe even new rotations for next week.”