Don’t Cry for Me Tommy Trojan!

Nothing says “Olympic Year” more than the USC women’s water polo team being ousted in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. But that’s exactly what happened Friday at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Trojans (18-9), suffering through their most challenging season in a decade, were unceremoniously dumped by Stanford (19-6).

[NCAA Women’s Water Polo Preview: Olympic Year May Have Impact on Season Ahead]

In losing a third-straight match for the first time since the 2000 season, USC was shut out in the first half against a Cardinal side that beat them for the fourth time this season—and the ninth time in the past 10 meetings between programs which have split the past 13 NCAA titles (eight by Stanford, five by USC.).

The 8-3 score represents the Trojans worst offensive output since a 5-3 loss to UCLA in 2015 and suggests first-year head coach Casey Moon has a lot of work to do if USC is to return to its accustomed perch atop US collegiate polo.

Hawai’i’s Daisy Logtens will need to come up big if the Wahine are to beat Cal at home.

The Stanford / USC result was one of four matches at Spieker that determined the semifinalists for this year’s national championship; the other three matches saw UCLA extended it’s perfect season to 24-0 with a 17-7 win over Wagner (30-5); Cal (18-6)—host to its first-ever NCAA women’s tournament—doubled up Fresno State (21-8) by a score of 14-7; and Hawai’i (23-3) took an 11-6 decision over Princeton (23-7).

In action later today, the top-seeded Bruins will take on Stanford at 5pm (EST) and the Rainbow Wahine, seeded #2 for the first time in program history, will face the Golden Bears at 7pm.

[2024 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament Central]

As top-seeded UCLA looks to continue one of the best starts in program history, it faces a Stanford side missing four top players, which makes the Cardinal a dangerous opponent for a Bruin squad that features more freshman and sophomores than upperclassmen. Stanford Head Coach John Tanner lost Jenna Flynn, Ryann Neushul, Jewel Roemer and Ella Woodhead  to the US women’s team training for the Paris Olympics. JT may have a depleted roster to defend his program’s two consecutive NCAA titles, but season-long adversity—and two previous matches against UCLA—will spur him and assistant coach Susan Ortwein to do more with less.

The good news? The Bruins, who have not won an NCAA title since 2009, won both meetings with Stanford this season—including a 9-6 win in February that snapped a seven-match losing streak to the Cardinal.

UCLA freshman Lauren Steele has been great all season; two more matches for perfection

The other semifinal is also a rematch. Cal and Hawai’i have played twice this season; the Wahine won 10-7 in February at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at UC-Irvine. The Golden Bears then returned the favor with a 9-8 win two months ago in Berkeley.

The rubber match will either send Hawai’i to its first-ever NCAA final or see Cal advancing to the title match for the first time since 2011. Neither program has ever won a national championship; between them Stanford (nine titles) and UCLA (seven titles) have hogged a lot of hardware.