USC Women's Water Polo Drops Tough Match Against No. 3 UCLA

The Women of Troy are in the heavy midst of a grueling National Championship defense, facing some of the toughest foes on a daily basis, and Senior Day ended with a hard-fought defensive loss, 6-4, at the hands of the UCLA Bruins.

Despite an outstanding effort from senior goalie Flora Bolonyai, whose 12 saves placed her tied with Bernice Orwig as USC's all-time career saves leader, the Women of Troy were stymied from equally-impressive net minder Sami Hill.

Coach Jovan Vavic allowed all five seniors- Bolonyai, Olivia Cummins, Kaleigh Gilchrist (arguably the Trojans best athlete in the water), Kelly Mendoza, Colleen O'Donnell and Madeline Rosenthal to start the game along with superstar scorer Monica Vavic.

Tied at half 2-2, UCLA broke the defensive battle open with some timely goals in the third period. USC hit the post three times in the fourth, but could only muster one goal in their comeback efforts. They beat the Bruins in a thrilling overtime game over in Westwood, so USC will hope to vest their rivals once if not twice more during postseason play.

The MPSF Tournament will be held at Uytengsu Aquatics Center April 25-27, followed by the NCAA Tournament also in USC's home pool May 9-11. USC will open up against the No. 6 seed in a 12:30 p.m. game on Friday (April 25) to begin the Trojans' push to defend their conference and NCAA titles from last season.