2005 NCAA Water Polo Championship -- Game 11 Recap
5/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Event: NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship (Game 11)
Score: #2 Southern Cal 11, #4 Hawaii 6
Records: Southern Cal (25-5), Hawaii (21-11)
National Finishes: USC (3rd), Hawaii (4th)
Southern Cal Tops Hawaii in NCAA Third-Place Contest
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- No. 2 seed Southern Cal won an 11-6 decision over No. 4 seed Hawaii Sunday (May 15) in the third-place match at the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship at the University of Michigan's Canham Natatorium. The Trojans jumped out to a 6-2 halftime lead, including a four-goal second quarter, and staved off a late Hawaii charge to earn the victory.
Southern Cal took an early lead with a goal by sophomore Brittany Hayes at the 2:45 mark of the first quarter, but Hawaii quickly answered just 21 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1 on sophomore Anna Sieprath's first goal of the match. However, the Women of Troy regained their lead with two straight goals, by Erin Wilson with just under one minute to play in the first and Lauren Wenger at the 5:07 mark of the second quarter. After Sieprath scored a power-play goal that brought Hawaii within one, 3-2, Southern Cal went on a three-goal run to take a 6-2 lead into the locker room.
The teams traded goals to make the score 8-3 after one minute of play in the second half. The Rainbow Wahine began their comeback with Seiprath's third goal of the game with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter. The goal sparked a 3-0 run for Hawaii that included markers by freshman Iefke Van Belkum and sophomore Amy Logan and closed the gap to 8-6 at the 5:04 mark of the fourth quarter. That was as close as Hawaii would get as Southern Cal scored the final three goals of the game to secure the win.
With the win, Southern Cal (25-5) finished third at the NCAA Championship. Hawaii (21-11) took fourth.
GAME SUMMARY
| Score by Periods | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Hawaii | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Southern Cal | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
Scoring
Hawaii Goals: Anna Sieprath 3, Amy Logan 2, Iefke Van Belkum. Southern Cal Goals: Eszter Gyori 2, Moriah Van Norman 2, Lauren Wenger 2, Erika Figge, Brittany Hayes, Anna Pardo, Jana Wenger, Erin Wilson. Ejections: Hawaii 10, Southern Cal 9. Goalie Saves: Meike De Nooy (Hawaii) 3, Sarah Mix (Southern Cal) 11.
Q U O T E S
USC Head Coach Jovan Vavic
On the NCAA Tournament ... "It's definitely great exposure for the sport. It's definitely great exposure for women's water polo. This tournament was run incredibly well. They did an incredible job organizing everything. I'm just very impressed with the way that this whole event went. We are not pleased with our third-place finish, but I am very pleased with the way we played today. It was a rough year for us. We really had high hopes. I'm very proud of our girls. I think in the end they showed a lot of pride. You've got to give Stanford credit. They improved throughout the year and are really one of the most improved teams and they have done a great job. I have to take my hat off to Stanford. They played hard and well against us (in the semifinals)."
On USC's season ... "We have won quite a few games this year and we are still a very competitive team. We only have two starters that will be missing from this year's squad. This team will be excellent next year. We have a bunch of young players with two sophomores and two freshmen among our top seven. This team is going to be back. We are going to be in the NCAAs next year for sure. I hope we're hungry."
Hawaii Head Coach Michel Roy
On finishing fourth at UH's first NCAA Championship ... "USC is the defending national champions. They're a great team. I think at this juncture they have more depth than we do and it showed a little. I also think mentally we were a little down. We gave it all both physically and mentally yesterday."
On the season ... "I am very proud of where we are as a program. This is only the beginning."
Hawaii Senior Driver Darcy Scott-Hosaka
On the game ... "It was a very tense and exciting game. It was a little tough to come back mentally after yesterday's loss, but physically this was it so we tried to pump ourselves up for one last win."
