USC didn’t take a long time to show the 500-plus fans who showed up at the Kroc Community Center why it is the No. 1 team in the nation.

The Trojans scored on their first two possessions, slamming the door shut before the San Diego State water polo team could even get its foot in.

The Aztecs entered the weekend with a nine-game winning streak, but their matchups against USD and No. 6 Cal (who defeated SDSU 7-4 on Friday) dropped the team’s record to 18-7 (4-4 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play).

The Aztecs looked outmatched from the get-go against USC. Even with a strong second half in which the teams played evenly at five goals a piece, SDSU never seemed to have a chance to win and ended up falling 16-11.

The Aztecs appeared to be caught off-guard in the early stages of the game and were unable to stop USC from getting the positioning it wanted.

“(The Trojans) pretty much played how we expected them to,” junior goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore said, “(but) we weren’t doing a good job of covering the middle, and we were letting all of their sets go one on one.”

SDSU’s defense, which had been the team’s strength, couldn’t handle the powerful Trojan offense. Kilgore, who had been averaging more than seven saves a game, was limited to just four, while the Trojans’ goalkeeper, freshman Whitney Morgan, tallied 18 stops.

The day was not a complete wash for the Aztecs, however. SDSU did improve its play in the second half of the contest and managed to score in double-digits; a feat no one else has been able to accomplish against USC this season.

“Against a team as strong as USC, you have to hope to score the first goal and set the tone, but we did manage to score 11 against the No. 1 team in the country,” head coach Carin Crawford said. “We really did a good job of keeping up the intensity and that was a good moral victory when playing against a team like (USC).”