LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 5 Fresno State water polo team earned two wins on day two of the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego in La Jolla. Fresno State opened the day with a 11-4 win over No. 6 UC Irvine before moving on to defeat No. 1 USC 8-7 later Saturday evening.
With the win over USC, Fresno State has defeated the nation's top-ranked team on two occasions this season with the first coming in a win over Stanford on Jan. 21. Fresno State handed USC its first loss of the 2024 season.
The Bulldogs defeated both UC Irvine and USC for the first time in program history on Saturday, falling in all four of the previous meetings with both teams.
The Bulldogs improve to 8-2 on the season, and will advance to the Triton Invitational title game on Sunday. Fresno State will take on No. 3 UCLA in the championship game on Sunday at 12:40 p.m. Sunday's championship game will have live scoring available on The FOSH.
How it happened vs. No. 6 UC Irvine
Bouncing back from a loss on Friday, the Bulldogs jumped to an early lead in the first as Abbey Simshauser scored a pair with Cynthia Rosa adding a third to take a 3-1 lead into the second quarter. Defense was the game-changer moving forward as the Bulldogs only allowed three goals to the Anteaters for the remainder of the game.
The 'Dogs took a 6-1 lead into halftime with additional goals scored by Caitlyn Mossman and Elisa Grim. Mossman tallied two in the second quarter.
Hailey Andress and Simshauser scored one each to extend Fresno State's lead to 8-2 heading into the final quarter.
Simshauser and Ashley Williams tacked on some insurance goals to close out the 11-4 victory for Fresno State.
How it happened vs No. 1 USC
Caitlyn Mossman scored the only two Bulldog goals in the opening period, keeping the 'Dogs in the game as USC had a narrow 3-2 lead at the end of the first.
The teams were even in scoring in the second quarter with two apiece. Abbey Simshauser and Hailey Andress joined Mossman in the scoring efforts to make it a 5-4 game at the half in favor of USC.
Fresno State opened the third quarter with three in-a-row to take a 7-5 lead. Simshauser broke the scoring drought with a goal at the 5:15 mark out of the half. Andress and Mossman hit on goals nearly 30 seconds from each other right around the two minute mark. USC added one in the final minute to make it a 7-6 game at the end of the third, in favor of Fresno State.
Just two goals were scored in the final quarter as Megan Cranley put one away with 1:40 left in the game. USC scored their final goal of the game at the 1:21 mark and the Bulldogs' defense locked in to control the remainder of the game.
Notable
Fresno State defeated the No. 1 ranked team twice this season.
Seven of Fresno State's eight wins this season come against Top 20 opponents, including four in the Top 10.
Fresno State is the first-ever Golden Coast Conference team to defeat a No. 1 team, now doing it twice in the same season.
The seven goals scored by USC were its lowest in a game since scoring only seven against Stanford in the 2023 MPSF Championship game.
Caitlyn Mossman recorded her second career hat trick in the win against USC.