Women’s water polo squashes Stanford
No. 1 women’s water polo remains undefeated after two victories over No. 2 Stanford this weekend. The group is now 14-0 on the season as the MPSF and NCAA tournaments loom on the horizon.
“We’re very happy that we are still undefeated and that we won against Stanford, even though we don’t look at undefeated, we don’t look for the records,” head coach Marko Pintaric said.
The two-game series began Saturday afternoon, with back-to-back scoring drives from both competitors leaving little room for breaks. The Cardinal started up 2-0 with a 5-meter penalty and a shot from the field, but USC answered with two in the first and a five-point surge in the second, turning the lead over to the Trojans for good. Redshirt senior goalie Holly Parker kept the energy going for USC, putting Stanford’s chances of a tie to rest with a huge 5-meter penalty save.
Redshirt senior driver Denise Mammolito hit a hat trick in the second half, moving to the No. 12 spot on USC’s all-time career scoring rankings. With assists from junior driver Grace Tehaney, redshirt senior utility Maud Megens was able to match Mammolito’s hat trick to put the Trojans up 12-7 with just under four minutes to go. Stanford would only manage one more goal to bring the final score to 12-8 at the end of regulation.
Sunday afternoon’s game was a much more tense affair, though it started with all smiles from Mammolito and Stanford senior driver Sarah Klass as they met with referees to start gameplay. With USC fans unable to attend in the Uytengsu Aquatics Center, they took to the roof of the Jefferson Parking structure, adding to the cheers from the teams that filled the lately quiet swim stadium.
“It’s really hard to manage the shift and emotions and to come the next day and play consistent and win,” Pintaric said.
It was the seniors that pulled the Trojans through to the end, with senior driver Verica Bakoc dominating the first half with a hat trick of nearly impossible shots to keep the Trojans level. Tied 5-5 at the half, the hard press from both teams put their conditioning and endurance to the test.
USC trailed at several points in the second half, but Mammolito came in clutch to close the deficit each time. Most of her shots came from the wings as the Trojans were unable to match Stanford’s success in converting post-up opportunities.
“The focus in defense was to prevent exactly that [post-ups]. In the second game they were more successful, obviously,” Pintaric said. “So we did have to make some adjustments at the half, addressing the matchups and stress the importance of timing in defense when somebody is posted up and you know how to jump in right away into a drop.”
But the defensive energy didn’t falter, with Parker heading up to 12 saves by the time the teams trickled into overtime — a cause of no teams finding a winner from a 10-10 tie for the last 3:15 of the game. At this point, all five or so of the attendees in the stadium absolutely could not sit down or stay still.
It was the Trojans’ tenacity — and maybe Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” playing before overtime helped as well — that brought them through to the finish.
Stanford would use one of its timeouts in the first overtime period to set up for a new position, only for Tehaney to steal the ball three seconds into the drive, getting the Trojans their first lead in two periods. Redshirt senior driver Kelsey McIntosh passed over to Mammolito for the latter’s career-high seventh goal of the game, securing a lead that would not be lost. The Cardinal managed to slip one in with less than two seconds left in the second overtime period, and even threw redshirt senior goalie Emalia Eichelberger in for a last-second field advantage, but it was no use as the Trojans escaped with a 12-11 win.
Next weekend, USC will host No. 5 Arizona State for two games at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, the Trojans’ last home game series of their season.
“It’s going to be challenging weekend, so we are doing our scouting, we’re doing our game preparation to address the minor adjustments from previous games, and to adapt them to Arizona and to go to attempt to win these games, and we understand how hard this is going to be,” Pintaric said.