Feb. 23, 2008

IRVINE, CALIF. - The No. 3 USC women's water polo team pushed through to the semifinals of the competitive UC Irvine Invitational with a pair of strong wins on Saturday in Irvine, Calif. With their 15-7 win over No. 15 Michigan and 12-1 victory over No. 11 UC Davis, the Women of Troy punched their ticket to Sunday's semifinals, where USC will face No. 2 Stanford at 11:45 a.m. at UC Irvine. USC is now 8-2 overall as it looks for its second win over the Cardinal this season.

In the opening game of the tourney, USC pulled out of a 6-6 tie early in the second period of play with a five-goal scoring run to put #15 Michigan out of reach. The Trojans allowed only one Wolverine goal in the second half, while USC tacked up six scores to secure the win. Michelle Stein paced the Women of Troy once again with five goals, while three other Trojans tallied hat tricks in the game. Miranda Nichols had her third three-goal outing of the season, while Kally Lucas notched her first of the year and freshman Kristen Dronberger punched in her first career hat trick to help lead the Trojans to victory. Alexandra Kiss was USC's fifth scorer in the game, while goalies Whitney Morgan and Tumua Anae combined for 12 saves in the cage.

USC's next matchup put the Trojans up against #11 UC Davis in the quarterfinals. The Aggies had upset #6 San Diego State in their first game of the invite to move up against USC in the afternoon game. Once again, USC's goalie tandem of Anae and Morgan backed up a tough Trojan defense, which allowed only a single Aggie goal in the match. USC opened with a score from Julie Spataru for a 1-0 lead, and UC Davis tied it up in the second period with a score from Dakotah Mohr, but that would be all the Trojans would allow in the game. Meanwhile, the USC offense powered in 11 goals the rest of the way. Again, Lucas notched a hat trick, leading the Trojans in scoring in the match. Seven other Women of Troy would get to the back of the net before the final buzzer, including a goal apiece from freshmen Jessica Kutcher and Katie Indvik for the two Trojans' first career goals at USC.

UC IRVINE INVITATIONAL
Feb. 23-24 - Irvine, Calif.

First Round
#3 USC 15, #15 Michigan 7
MICH 5 - 1 - 1 - 0 = 7
USC 5 - 4 - 3 - 3 = 15 SCORING:
USC -- Michelle Stein 5, Kally Lucas 3, Miranda Nichols 3, Kristen Dronberger 3, Alexandra Kiss.
MICH -- Alison Mantel 2, Sharayah Hernandez 2, Leah Robertson 2, Carrie Frost.
SAVES: Whitney Morgan (USC) 5, Tumua Anae (USC) 7, Brittany May (MICH) 2, Kimberly Gero (MICH) 2.

Quarterfinals
#3 USC 12, #11 UC Davis 1
UCD 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 1
USC 1 - 5 - 4 - 2 = 12

SCORING:
USC - Kally Lucas 3, Alexandra Kiss 2, Michelle Stein 2, Julie Spataru 2, Jessica Kutcher, Kathryn Indvik, Alison Riddle.
UCD - Dakotah Mohr. SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 9, Whitney Morgan (USC) 4, Casey Hines (UCD) 6.