2005 NCAA Water Polo Championship -- Game 1 Recap
5/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Event: NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship (Game 1)
Score: #2 Southern Cal 18, Redlands 2
Records: USC (24-4), Redlands (19-12)
Next USC Event: Saturday, May 14 -- vs. Stanford/Michigan winner, 6 p.m.
Next Redlands Event: Saturday, May 14 -- vs. Stanford/Michigan loser, 3 p.m.
Southern Cal Cruises Past Redlands in NCAA Opener
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 2-seeded Southern Cal Women of Troy cruised to an 18-2 victory over No. 7 seed Redlands Friday (May 13) in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the University of Michigan's Canham Natatorium. The second-ranked Women of Troy jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter and scored nine unanswered goals in the second, third and fourth periods to seal the victory.
Southern Cal started the game with four unanswered goals, including a pair by junior Lauren Wenger, to take a 4-0 lead with 1:19 to play in the first quarter. Redlands, however notched a late tally from sophomore Kelly Phillips to make the score 4-1 at the end of the first period.
The Women of Troy responded with a 9-0 run spanning into the fourth period. The run was highlighted by three goals from sophomore Brittany Hayes and a pair by freshman Miranda Nichols. With the score at 13-1 with 6:06 to play, Redlands broke the flurry with an outside shot from junior Meghan Rosenberger, but Southern Cal went on to score the final five goals of the game to close out the match.
Southern Cal (24-4) will face the winner of No. 3 seed Stanford and No. 6 seed Michigan on Saturday (May 14) at 6 p.m., while Redlands (19-12) will take on the loser of the Stanford/Michigan contest on Saturday at 3 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
| Score by Periods | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Redlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Southern Cal | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 18 |
Scoring
Redlands Goals: Kelly Phillips, Meghan Rosenberger. Southern Cal Goals: Miranda Nichols 3, Anna Pardo 2, Brittany Hayes 2, Melissa Madrid 2, Lauren Wenger 2, Erin Wilson, Moriah Van Norman, Marina Mayer, Julie Spataru, Alison Riddle Jana Wenger, Eszter Gyori. Ejections: Redlands 5, Southern Cal 7. Goalie Saves: Caitlin O'Dell (Redlands) 3, Sarah Mix (USC) 6, Alexandra Lopez (USC) 1.
Q U O T E S
USC Head Coach Jovan Vavic
On the game ... "I thought we played very good in transition. Our offensive transition, our fast break was very good. We did a very good job in defending Redlands. It is a big disparity in talent, so we were able to push them away from the cage and create fast break opportunities."
On goals for tomorrow ... "It's hard to say now, we've got to see the opponent. We didn't have too many extra man or down a man opportunities. So I couldn't say how we are going to do tomorrow in that situation. I think we are in good shape."
USC Sophomore Defenseman Marina Mayer
On the game ... "I think it is good that we got everyone in, and get warmed up. Everyone here is a great opponent. It is a pleasure to play all of them and an honor to be here. We're just going to take one game at a time and now we'll think about tomorrow."
Redlands Head Coach Tom Whittemore
On the game ... "We played a really good team. I think we competed hard, I think we did fine. I think what would have been nice in that game if we could have created some additional scoring opportunities. We took two penalty shots and it would have been nice if we could have put those away. The other thing I think we did well is we played pretty solid frontcourt defense, but the reality is we just weren't able to keep up on the counterattack. That's just a really good experienced team. There were some things in that game that you could look at that we did pretty well, the main thing is that we did ok on that counterattack and against the pressure defense. We just struggled keeping up with them."
Redlands Senior Driver Mandy Zimel
On the game ... "I think we played as well as we could. We have some things that we could work on, but in general we had a pretty good attitude we just couldn't get the ball in the net."
