UCLA, USC earn women’s water polo rematch

Second-seeded UCLA put away Iona, 14-3, and No. 3-seeded USC dominated Princeton, 14-2, on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA women’s water polo championship tournament at San Diego State.

UC Irvine was an 8-6 winner over Loyola Marymount, and Pomona-Pitzer fell to Stanford, 17-5.

Senior KK Clark scored four goals for the Bruins (22-3), who established a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Sarah Orozco, another senior, had a hat trick for UCLA, which moved into a semifinal match Saturday with USC (22-5).

“I thought we did a good job with our composure and executed early, which makes all the difference,” UCLA Coach Brandon Brooks said.

Goalkeeper Sarah Wilkey made 11 stops for UCLA and Caitlin Dement recorded five saves.

Against Princeton, the Trojans took a 6-0 lead on goals by Colleen O’Donnell, Kaleigh Gilchrist, Chelsea Silvers, Patricia Jancso, Eike Daube and Madeline Rosenthal. Overall, 10 players scored for USC.

The Trojans went on a five-goal run to close the game and now await UCLA, which had three one-goal victories over USC this season.

Seven consecutive goals broke open a 1-1 game and led No. 1-seeded Stanford (24-2) past eighth-seeded Pomona-Pitzer. Victoria Kennedy led the Cardinal with four goals, and Alyssa Lo and Pallavi Menon also posted hat tricks. Kaley Dodson scored twice for Stanford, which moves into the semifinals against fourth-seeded UC Irvine (25-6).

That will be the second meeting between Stanford and UC Irvine this season.

The Cardinal defeated the Anteaters, 17-5, on March 4.