Water polo eyes Stanford rematch

Earlier this season, USC took the trip up to the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine and ended the weekend facing off with Stanford. It was an intense, evenly-matched bout, with the two squads being tied at seven apiece entering the final quarter of play. 

During that Feb. 26 game, redshirt senior utility Bayley Weber notched a goal with just under five minutes remaining to put the Trojans up two and Stanford on the ropes. Then, the Cardinal rattled off three unanswered goals, scoring the game-winner just 10 seconds before the final buzzer. 

Since then, USC has notched nine straight wins in dominant fashion, scoring double-digits in all of them and only allowing its opponents to surpass 8 goals in only one outing.

“We just knew how to play with each other better, figured out our rotations and our best way to play,” said redshirt junior driver Alejandra Aznar in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We’ve learned about our weaknesses throughout all this time … I think we have much clearer objectives and goals on what we need to do to win the game.”

One of the many strong points for this Trojan team as of late has been their play at the defensive end, holding their opponents to under five goals in their last two outings. 

“Defense is all attitude,” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric of his team’s knack for keeping opponents out of the net. “I’d like to give the credit to the girls. The way they train is a reflection of the way they’ve been playing the last couple of games. I wish them good luck and to continue with that same attitude and same intensity.”

Stanford was able to thwart the Trojans in their last meeting, but USC has had over a month to prepare for this upcoming match, and it’s been circled on their calendars.

“We’ve really got back to basics,” said Pintaric describing this last month of training. “We’ve used this time in between those two games to train hard, to work on our fundamentals, to tighten up the defense and to focus on Stanford player by player.” 

Taking down the Cardinal will be no easy feat. They boast an undefeated 16-0 record and, similar to USC, have won most of their matches handily, destroying Santa Clara 23-2 their last time out. 

A major factor in whether or not the Trojans are able to avenge their lone loss of the season will be their ability to slow down Stanford’s high-powered offense. 

“We just have to take care of Stanford’s fastbreak. They have a very aggressive and good fastbreak,” said Aznar when asked what the team’s focus is on heading into the weekend. “Also their center play, we need to figure out the best way to stop it and not allow easy ejections.”

No team is better equipped to beat Stanford than USC, though, as their last matchup was the Cardinal’s closest game and toughest test all season.

This match is sure to live up to the hype. The top two teams in the country will clash at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at 1 p.m Saturday.