No. 1 USC readies for Triton Invitational Saturday

No. 1 women’s water polo will travel to San Diego this weekend for the annual Triton Invitational. USC faces off against No. 16 UC Santa Barbara and No. 13 Long Beach State on Saturday and play two more matches Sunday.

The Trojans haven’t skipped a beat since their 2021 NCAA title season, and aside from a shaky fourth quarter against now-No. 8 Fresno State, they’ve won all four games in comfortable fashion. While they haven’t encountered ranked opponents yet, the early season has been a good opportunity for the Trojans to work on team chemistry and communication. 

“I think everybody’s been quick to adapting to certain situations so I think that’s really helpful,” senior utility Bayley Weber said. “Everyone’s coachable, which is also making the transition very smooth.”

While the team’s early performances prove promising the players know that they can’t force anything — it will take time for the team to mesh completely.

“Right now, [the team’s chemistry is] good, but there’s a lot of work to be done,” redshirt sophomore 2-meter Tilly Kearns said. “With 10 freshmen coming in, and then myself and [redshirt junior driver] Paige Hauschild — we’ve been gone for two years — and came back and we have an integral part to play. It’s still building.”

The Trojans have a specific goal each week for execution in the pool. For this tournament, Head Coach Marko Pintaric challenged his squad to limit teams to under 6 goals a game. Through the first four games, USC is conceding 5 goals per game, so Pintaric looks to see clean defensive execution in an invitational with multiple ranked teams.

“[We want to] improve the mistakes that we did have —mainly bad timing — and communication,” Pintaric said. 

Weber and redshirt sophomore driver Alejandra Aznar will serve as defensive anchors. Weber spoke about emphasizing constant communication with the starting goalie — likely junior Carolyne Stern — and organizing team formations. Meanwhile, Aznar comes off a four-steal game against San José State. The two are poised to make meaningful contributions on the defensive end that may not pop up in the box score.

Pintaric will travel with 19 players to the Triton Invitational. Four games in two days will likely mean that all of them will get time in the pool, but the head coach is prepared to shorten the rotation.

“As the season goes further and further, and you start playing in order to actually win, we will start trimming down,” Pintaric said. “[Now, we are] trying to see what our best rotations are for incoming tough matches.”

Pintaric is looking down the line to early May, when the NCAA tournament will be held in Michigan. He stresses focusing on taking things one step at a time, and most importantly, his team buying into the same vision.

“It’s pretty easy to keep motivation high here playing in this system at USC,” Kearns said. “Everything’s so well thought out and planned … when there’s 27 other girls that are doing the same thing as you, all working towards a natty.”

USC plays No. 16 UC Santa Barbara at 9:20 a.m. and No. 13 Long Beach State at 1:20 p.m. Saturday.