No. 1 women’s water polo handles season openers


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Freshman driver Tori Gacutan holds the ball in the air.
Freshman driver Tori Gacutan transfered to USC from Fresno State before the season. She will face her former team as a Trojan Feb. 4. (Nayeon Ryu | Daily Trojan)

Families scurried into the Uytengsu Aquatic Center Saturday to watch No. 1 women’s water polo’s season-opening doubleheader, many of whom came to support the 10 new freshmen. Parents engaged in friendly small talk: younger siblings ran around the bleachers and babies screamed insufferably. 

And while the inklings of a tight-knit community in the stands began to form, another classic family scene was taking place down at the pool — a younger brother who finally convinced his older one to play with him. The young, impressionable child is excited, until the playing starts. While the younger child is giving everything he has, the older brother wins effortlessly.

That’s more or less what USC’s doubleheader looked like against Claremont-Mudd Scripps and Occidental. The Trojans put the former to bed, 31-4, and against the latter, they won 33-2. 

“Even though the wins were convincing, there’s some patterns that you can see: player anticipation and communication.” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric. “We will try to pick it up and design the rotations for the next tournament.”

Still, it was a dominant display from USC. Redshirt sophomore 2-meter Tilly Kearns, who spent last summer in Tokyo trying to win Australia an Olympic medal, scored 10 goals across both games. The Trojans also saw scores from 15 other players on Saturday.

“We’ve been trying a lot of rotations and a lot of possibilities,” Pintaric said. “Overall, I’m happy with the way they performed, the way the energy was.”

Many of the goals came from breakaways or easy 2-on-1 situations, but as the score differential ballooned, USC would often pull the ball back out, wait for its opponent to catch up and attack against a set defense.

“The whole idea is really to focus on the fast break balance and the fast break offense. [We] try to recognize what they do on defense and then attack accordingly,” Pintaric said.

After goalie Holly Parker, who was eighth in saves in USC history, graduated last year, junior Carolyne Stern and redshirt junior Erin Tharp split time in the cage. Stern saved 7 shots against Claremont-Mudd Scripps, and Tharp parried 4 of Occidental’s attempts. Pintaric is undecided on a definitive starter and will continue testing the two over the course of the next few weeks.

“Carolyne is listed as our starter right now,” Pintaric said. “But it’s always a competition, especially in this position, and that competition brings the best out of them.”

USC jumps back into their home pool, against Fresno State Friday at 5:00 p.m.