No. 2 USC finishes third at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational

No. 2 women’s water polo finished in third place at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational this weekend at Irvine. The Trojans stumbled against No. 4 Stanford in the semifinals before redeeming themselves against No. 5 Hawai‘i to end the tournament. They now have a 11-2 overall record.

“Overall, we played good,” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “A lot of good stuff came out of it, and we’re going to use that for the second part of the season … and preparations for conference finals.”

As expected, USC cruised through group play, sprinting past Pomona-Pitzer 21-2, and taking care of No. 13 Long Beach State 16-5. 

In the tournament opener against the Sagehens, redshirt sophomore Tilly Kearns and senior utilities Bayley Weber and Sophia Lucas all notched hat tricks — Kearns was a perfect 3-for-3 on the day. 

Defensively, the Trojans easily won the turnover battle, forcing 16 while committing none themselves. Junior goalie Carolyne Stern kept a clean sheet in the first half, and redshirt junior Erin Tharp stepped into the cage and made six second-half saves.

With the game practically over by the start of the third frame, Pintaric used his depth, playing a few more seniors and underclassmen. USC continued to dominate with a well-rounded attack that saw 12 different players scratch the scoreboard Friday.

Saturday morning’s clash with Long Beach State was more of the same. Kearns registered another hat trick in less than 10 minutes of game time, while freshman utility Honnie Vandeweghe-O’Shea chipped in three scores. 

But after a strong showing in group play, the Trojans crumbled against the Cardinal, 16-10.

The semifinal match boasted an overabundance of stardom, with three Tokyo 2020 gold medalists from Team USA: USC’s Paige Hauschild and Stanford sisters, grad student Makenzie and senior Aria Fischer.

Hauschild led the Trojans with a trio of scores, but the defense couldn’t contain Makenzie. The driver got off 11 shots and converted six of them, including four on even strength.

“Defensively … in the first and the last quarter, we allowed 11 goals … that’s very uncharacteristic,” Pintaric said. “[But] a lot of good stuff came out of the loss to UCLA. We applied it against Cal, and I know the team will respond the same to this loss, learn from mistakes and become better.”

USC’s offense paled in comparison. The Trojans did well to draw fouls, forcing 15 exclusions but floundered when it came to executing off of 6-on-5s. They were an abysmal 4-for-13 on power plays. 

“Credit to the aggressiveness of Stanford’s defense,” Pintaric said. “But when I watched the game again, the plays were executed right. We just didn’t finish the shots, which are our mistakes … It’s the timing to step in and finish — that’s the difference between bar in and bar out.”

The Stanford loss set up a meeting with Hawai‘i, whom USC defeated earlier this season. This time, it was yet another grind-it-out victory. Hauschild tallied another hat trick, along with two assists. 

In a relatively clean game that heard few whistles, the Trojans were clinical when it counted: 2-for-3 on power plays and perfect on penalty attempts from Kearns and Weber. 

After playing nine games in the last two weeks, USC will take a much-needed two-week break.

“This two-week period is really designed to reboot conditioning-wise, to get healthy and to work on new stuff,” Pintaric said. “This is going to be a great chance for us to really … get closer to where we were with the super senior team last year. I’m really looking forward to the next chapter for us.”

USC will host Indiana Mar. 12 at Uytengsu Aquatic Center.