A year after watching Stanford celebrate at their expense, the USC Trojans got their championship moment back — and they did it the hard way.
No. 3 seed Southern California edged No. 4 California 10-9 in the national championship game on April 26 at Canyonview Pool in San Diego to win the 2026 NCAA women’s water polo title. It’s the Trojans’ eighth national championship, tying UCLA for second-most all-time behind Stanford’s ten, and their first since 2021.
A bracket full of upsets
The seeds did not hold in San Diego. Top-seeded Stanford — the defending champion — cruised past Wagner in the first round, then ran into a Cal team playing its best water polo of the season. The Golden Bears stunned the Cardinal 13-11 in the semifinals to blow the bracket open.
USC’s half was no easier. After handling LMU 10-5 in the first round, the Trojans survived a one-goal war with No. 2 UCLA, 11-10, to punch their ticket to the final. That set up a 3-vs-4 championship game — and it delivered, going down to the final possessions before USC closed out the 10-9 win.
Revenge, served poolside
The storyline writes itself. In 2025, USC fought all the way to the championship game only to fall to Stanford. Twelve months later, head coach Casey Moon’s Trojans finished 25-3 and finished the job — their first title of the Moon era and the program’s first championship since 2021.
How they won it
This was a defensive masterclass disguised as a one-goal thriller. Cal came into the final averaging more than 14 goals per game; USC held the Bears to nine, smothered their power play (3-for-13), and kept Cal’s top scoring threats off the board entirely. Goalkeeper Anna Reed was the wall, posting a career-high 14 saves with three steals.
Up front, Emily Ausmus scored twice and was named tournament MVP after piling up six goals and three assists across the NCAA Tournament. Sinia Plotz and Ava Stryker added two goals apiece, and Rachel Gazzaniga’s patient power-play finish early in the fourth quarter — making it 10-8 — proved to be the championship-winning goal. Ausmus, Reed, and Stryker all landed on the All-Tournament First Team.
For Cal, the runner-up finish stings doubly: the Bears also lost the 2024 final, and they’re still chasing the program’s elusive breakthrough after knocking off the No. 1 seed.
The pecking order, updated
Women’s water polo has always been a California arms race, and the 2026 title tightens it. Stanford still leads the all-time count with ten championships, but USC’s eighth pulls the Trojans even with UCLA in second place — and with all four semifinalists separated by a combined three goals in San Diego, the gap at the top of this sport has never felt smaller. The win also marked a milestone for the athletic department as a whole: USC’s 139th overall national title and 116th NCAA team championship.
The trophy is headed back to Troy. The rest of the sport has been warned.
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