USC wins its seventh ever National Championship


By
 in , ,
The Trojans, in their victory against No. 3 Stanford, achieved the largest margin of victory in a NCAA women’s water polo championship. (Amanda Chou | Daily Trojan)

The perfect revenge to No. 1 USC’s only loss this season was beating No. 3 UCLA in the 2021 NCAA Championship final 18-9 this past weekend. It is the largest margin of victory and most goals scored ever in a NCAA women’s water polo championship game.

Right out of the gate, there was something different about the energy of the USC squad. The Trojans broke out early from a one-goal game in the first to a 10-4 lead at halftime, tying the most goals scored by a winning team in a NCAA final.

The offensive effort was driven by redshirt senior utility Maud Megens, earning six goals and three steals to solidify her place as the NCAA Tournament MVP. Right behind her in scoring were stellar performances from lefty senior driver Verica Bakoc, who managed to thread the ball in through a forest of shot blockers, junior utility Bayley Weber, who was always in the right place at the right time, and junior 2-meter Mireia Guiral, whose backhanded shot and kick-up while held by UCLA’s defender kept the control in USC’s hands. 

Redshirt senior driver Denise Mammolito, picking up a goal of her own, and Megens described this win as something the seniors wanted to leave for the underclassmen. 

“It’s been such a weird year, especially last year, and coming back here feeling like home, like coming home in L.A. with my team and where everyone has the same goal in mind,” Megens said. “And everyone’s there for each other. And really our underclassmen also made it possible for us to play today the way we did, and I hope they keep the tradition alive and go at it out next year when we’re not here.”

In the cage was a wall by the name of redshirt senior goalie Holly Parker, collecting a career-high 13 saves and a steal for the Trojans. Her strength set the defensive tone of the match, and UCLA was only able to take advantage of three out of seven powerplay opportunities. Parker earned a spot, along with Mammolito, on the NCAA All-Tournament First Team for the coordination.

This is the seventh national championship for USC women’s water polo, and the first for Head Coach Marko Pintaric under his pedagogy.

“All this is not me,” Pintaric said. “As a coach, I’m really proud to have really the best staff in my opinion that a coach can have. These people they put enormous time of work here between men’s and women’s team. And this is complete team effort. And then our team is a special group of young ladies, warriors, they came together.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Simon Park took the photo when the photo was taken by Amanda Chou. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.