Courtesy: USC Athletics
THIS WEEK
RANKINGS
SCOUTING STANFORD
The No. 2 Cardinal is 6-2 overall and 4-2 in MPSF play after beating UCLA 12-11 and then falling to the Bruins 11-10 last week. Sarah Klass leads Stanford in scoring with 25 goals. Goalie Emalia Eichelberger is averaging 10.3 saves and 8.1 goals-against per game in her eight appearances. In a series dating back to 1996, USC is 38-37 all-time against Stanford after the Trojans beat the Cardinal 10-5 when they last met in the 2020 Barbara Kalbus Invitational championship game last season.
BY THE NUMBERS
Now 12 games deep into 2021 action, Denise Mammolito leads the Trojans in scoring with 28 goals, followed closely by Verica Bakoc with 26. Also in the 20-goal realm to date are Maud Megens and Grace Tehaney with 22 goals each. In all, 14 different Trojans have scored so far this year. On the defensive end, senior goalie Holly Parker — thanks in part to a career-high 12 saves collected recently — is averaging 8.7 saves and 6.8 goals-against per game in her eight appearances in the cage this season, while sophomore Carolyne Stern has appeared in five games, averaging 7.1 saves and 7.3 goals-against per game, and Erin Tharp has checked in twice, making seven saves and allowing just four goals in 16 minutes of work. As a team, USC is averaging 13.3 goals per game offensively, while the defense has allowed 7.0 goals-against per game. The Trojans have held opponents scoreless in seven complete periods so far.
CLIMB ON
USC seniors Maud Megens, Denise Mammolito, Kelsey McIntosh and Holly Parker have all been working their ways up the USC career charts. Having cracked the all-time top-10 this season, Megens stands at No. 9 among USC’s scoring leaders with 185 goals scored so far. Mammolito, meanwhile, is currently at No. 13 all-time with 151 goals, and McIntosh is on the board at No. 29 with 112. Goalie Parker also has climbed the career ladder, now ranked as USC’s No. 8 all-time goalie with 220 career saves.
LAST ACTION
USC scored two hard-fought road wins last in its first-ever trip to Bloomington, Ind., to take on No. 15 Indiana. In their first test on Friday, USC unleashed a four-goal rally to turn a tied game into one that the Trojans could control on the way to a 10-8 victory over the Hoosiers. Denise Mammolito scored four goals for the Trojans, and goalie Holly Parker hauled in a career-high 12 saves to help hold off the Hoosiers. The following day, USC turned the tide on a tight first half that saw seven ties and ended up swamping Indiana 19-10 with an overwhelming second-half surge. The Trojans piled up 10 goals and gave up just two in the final 16 minutes of action to buckle in another win, which featured a career-high-tying five goals from Denise Mammolito.
BAKOC’S BREAKOUT BRINGS FIRST MPSF HONOR
Days after drilling a career-high seven goals in a single game, USC senior Verica Bakoc landed her first career selection as MPSF Player of the Week on March 22. In back-to-back MPSF wins at California over the weekend, Bakoc helped her top-ranked Trojans stay undefeated on the year with her offensive output. In the first matchup with the Golden Bears, Bakoc delivered two goals on three shots and added a steal as USC beat Cal 17-11. The next day, in a tighter affair with the Bears, Bakoc was the spark USC needed. The left-handed senior sizzled in seven goals on nine shots, more than doubling her previous career high of three goals and scoring the third-most goals in a single game by a Trojan with her seven-goal onslaught in USC’s 12-9 victory over Cal. With 19 goals already this season, Bakoc has eclipsed her previous season best of 14 goals. She is the second Trojans to earn MPSF Player of the Week honors this season, following senior Maud Megens’ selection on Feb. 16.
MPSF WELCOMES BACK MEGENS WITH WEEKLY AWARD
In her first game back with the Trojans since May 2019, Maud Megens drummed up five goals in USC’s 2021 season-opening win over UC Irvine. For her dominant efforts, Megens was selected as the MPSF Player of the Week on Feb. 16. It’s the sixth such honor for Megens, who took the 2020 season off to train with the Dutch National Team in preparation for Olympic Qualifying. With Megens’ help, the Netherlands earned Olympic qualification last month to book a trip to Tokyo this summer. Now back in the water with her USC team, Megens stands tall for the Trojans. In addition to the five goals she scored for USC against UC Irvine, Megens also delivered four assists and had a steal in the 12-7 win. Megens is the first to earn MPSF Player of the Week accolades this season as women’s competition gets underway for 2021.
STRONG START
Almost a year to the day since its last competition at Uytengsu Aquatics Center, No. 1 USC got right back to business in drumming up a 12-7 win over visiting UC Irvine on Feb. 13. The Anteaters were actually USC’s last opponent at Uytengsu — a 9-6 Trojan win on Feb. 15, 2020. In this 2021 season opener, USC was powered up by a five-goal outing from Maud Megens and backed up by nine saves from Holly Parker to help the top-ranked Trojans to a 1-0 start to 2021. After Grace Tehaney lit the fuse on USC’s offensive efforts with a goal in the first minute, Maud Megens had a hat trick by the close the first quarter as USC netted a 4-1 lead after eight minutes of action. Goalie Holly Parker would snuff an early Anteater 6-on-5 chance with a save, and then Kelsey McIntosh found Téa Poljak for a score that got USC up 5-1 early in the second. UC Irvine converted on a power play later, only to see Megens hit Denise Mammolito for a 6-on-5 slam 10 seconds before the halftime buzzer, and USC was up 6-2 at the break. In the third, the Anteaters managed back-to-back goals to make it 6-4, only to see Megens bust out a laser on a 6-on-5 and then strike on the counter to build back that four-goal lead. Entering the fourth, USC was up 9-6, and the Trojans stayed in full control with three more goals in the final frame. Verica Bakoc struck first, and after Parker squashed an Anteater 5-meter penalty shot it was freshman Julia Janov who notched her first goal as a Trojan to take USC ahead 11-6. UC Irvine got a 6-on-5 to go next, but Grace Tehaney would wrap up her hat trick to get USC ahead 12-7, and the Trojans held tight to that lead the rest of the way.
SUPER SENIORS
Captains Denise Mammolito and Kelsey McIntosh — both All-Americans — are back for a fifth season at USC after having their eligibility extended with last season’s mid-March cancellation, which had stalled out the 12-1 Trojans while ranked No. 1 in the nation. Mammolito and McIntosh’s experience and leadership is bolstered further by the return of All-American Maud Megens, who took the 2020 season off to train with her Dutch National Team. With the Netherlands’ Olympic qualification earned last month, Megens is back in the water with her fellow Women of Troy. USC’s depth charge of leadership includes another All-American in her fifth season at USC — goalie Holly Parker reflects the balance in the Trojans’ pool of experience for 2021. That foursome, along with seniors Verica Bakoc, Sabrina Garabet, Kari Jensen and Randi Reinhardt, already have one NCAA championship ring from 2018. And after missing the chance to claim a crown last season, this senior group is bound and determined to bring another trophy back to Troy in 2021.
DEPTH CHARGE
Seniors Verica Bakoc and Sabrina Garabet are joined by All-American Grace Tehaney as the Trojans’ trio of left-handed sharpshooters on the perimeter. More All-American talent shines though in junior Bayley Weber, with her ability to be a force at both ends of the pool. Fellow junior Claire Haas has grown in her role at the two-meter slot, where Randi Reinhardt also checks in and junior Mireia Guiral has proven herself an All-American power. Starting up their second seasons at USC, the Trojans have Brooklyn Aguilera, Christina Crum and Téa Poljak in line for increased action in 2021, along another solid junior in Sophia Lucas. Additionally, USC has a welcome boost of fresh talent in a set of four true freshmen in the field — Abigail Hendrix, Julia Janov, Hannah Meyer and Taylor Vangrin.
CAGE FIGHTERS
Meanwhile, USC’s goalkeeping corps has a formidable stash of experience and skill. All-American Holly Parker is the veteran of the group, but both redshirt sophomore Erin Tharp and true sophomore Carolyne Stern saw time between the pipes last year. All told, USC’s defense will have a reliable red cap backing it up regardless of who checks in. And with defensive savvy abounding, USC has all the ingredients to be a dangerous counterattacking team as well.
PINTA’S PROGRAM
An All-American and national champion as a player at USC, Marko Pintaric is in his second season as head coach of the USC men’s and women’s water polo teams. A long-time assistant coach, associate head coach and co-head coach for the Trojans, Pintaric officially was named USC’s new leader in August 2019. When the 2020 women’s season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pintaric had the USC women ranked No. 1 in the nation. This year, Pintaric aims to help propel the Women of Troy to a seventh national championship.