April (2) 2022 Candygrams

Saturday, April 16, 2022---Women of Troy Water Polo Senior Salute

My husband Jim and I arrived early this morning at Uytengsu Aquatic Center for the Women's Water Polo match with crosstown rival UCLA. It was also Senior Salute Day. Friend SID Darcy Couch allowed my husband and me to go poolside to take videos and pictures of the Senior Salute. Thank you, Darcy!

We also came early to get good seats for the match that would follow the Senior Salute. Luckily, my sister Patti Poon also arrived early and saved our seats. Then, Jim and I walked downstairs to the lounge where the Women of Troy players would be honored in a celebration after the match.

Trojan Candy saw a wonderful display which the parents had set up for the three Seniors who were going to be honored before the match. Trojan Candy also met the mothers of the three honorees.

The first mother was Kirsten Tharp. Goalie Erin Tharp is her daughter. Notice the nice display about Erin.

The next mother was Amy Garabet. Her daughter Sabrina Garabet also had a beautiful display.

Kim Lucas, the third mother, posed for my picture. Sophia Lucas is Kim’s daughter.

The next thing that caught my eye was the unbelievable cake that Kirsten Tharp had made.

The three mothers posed together behind the cake.

Trojan Candy walked outside to see what was happening. I saw a group of body painted USC Students in the stands who came to cheer for our team. I waved at them to get their attention and then took their picture.

Now it was time for the Senior Salute to begin.

The three Seniors walked together to the poolside ceremony.

They were Erin Tharp, Sophia Lucas, and Sabrina Garabet.

#1 Erin Tharp was introduced first.

Erin posed with her family and Head Coach Marko Pintaric. From left to right are her dad Glen, Erin, her mom Kirsten, and Coach Pintaric.

Then, Erin got a big hug from Coach Pintaric. FIGHT ON, Erin!

Sophia Lucas was announced second.

Coach Pintaric placed a lei around Sophia’s neck.

Then he gave her a big hug.

Then Sophia posed for a picture with her family and Coach Pintaric. From left to right are Coach Pintaric, Sophia’s mom Kim, Sophia, and her dad Eric. FIGHT ON, Sophia!

The two friends and teammates posed for Trojan Candy.

The third Senior who was honored was Sabrina Garabet. Coach Pintaric stood ready with a lei for Sabrina.

Next, Coach Pintaric gave Sabrina a big hug.

Then Sabrina posed with Coach Pintaric and her family. From left to right are Coach Marko Pintaric, her mom Amy, Sabrina, her dad Roger, and her brother George.

My last picture was of the big family hug. FIGHT ON, Sabrina!

Here is Coach Pintaric with the three honored Seniors, Erin Tharp, Sabrina Garabet, and Sophia Lucas.

Trojan Candy took more pictures of the three families. Here is Sabrina Garabet’s family up close. Roger, Amy, and George Garabet smiled for me.

Kim Lucas and Kristen Tharp are friends through their daughters Sophia and Erin.

Then, Sophia Lucas' mom Kim and dad Eric posed for Trojan Candy. The parents had such beautiful bouquet!

While Trojan Candy was taking pictures, my husband Jim took videos. This video was of #1 Senior Erin Tharp.

This video was of #19 Senior Sophia Lucas.

#25 Senior Sabrina Garabet was in this video.

The last video is of Coach Pintaric and the three Seniors Erin Tharp, Sophia Lucas, and Sabrina Garabet.

Congratulations and FIGHT ON, Erin, Sophia and Sabrina!

Friday, April 15, 2022---Women of Troy Tennis Senior Salute

My husband Jim and I arrived early at Marks Stadium for the Women's tennis match with crosstown rival UCLA. It was also Senior Salute Day. Coach Swain allowed us to go onto the court to take pictures and videos of the celebration. Thank you, Coach Swain!

The scoreboard displayed our three Senior honorees.

The first Senior recognized was Danielle Willson (3/12/2022).

Salma Ewing was the second Senior honored. Trojan Candy interviewed Salma twice (4/5/2019) and (1/21/2022). Click/tap on a date to read her interviews.

Team Manager Gabby Contratto was also recognized and posed with Danielle and Salma.

Next, the three coaches posed with Danielle and Salma. From left to right were Paul Perrier, George Wang, Danielle, Salma, Alison Swain, and Elizabeth Begley.

Both Danielle and Salma posed together holding their souvenir jerseys.

Then the team posed with Danielle and Salma. Standing L-R: Gabrielle Lee (1/21/2022), Grace Piper, McKenna Koenig (1/21/2022), Naomi Cheong, Danielle Willson, Salma Ewing, Leyden Games, Sloane Morra, and Snow Han (1/21/2022). Kneeling: Isabelle Lee (1/21/2022) and Eryn Cayetano (1/21/2022).

At the end of the ceremony, Danielle posed with her parents, Marvin Willson and Carol Springstead.

Senior Manager Gabby posed with her Dad.

During the ceremony, Jim took this video. The Spirit of Troy was also featured.

Then a short video of Danielle and her parents.

And a short video of Gabby and her dad.

Now, it was time to start our match versus the Lady Bruins.

Here is my video of the team warming up for the match.

Team huddle

Doubles lineup

The Doubles started at Center Court. See Salma Ewing and Eryn Cayetano (receiving serve) in action.

On Court 2, Grace Piper (serving) and Naomi Cheong were in action.

Naomi and Grace won their Doubles match 6-4 over the Bruins. Here they met at the net.

On Court 1, Salma and Eryn won the second Doubles match in a very close competition. The winning score was USC 7-6 (7) The two partners hugged one another in VICTORY!

The scoreboard showed the Singles lineup and that USC was ahead 1-0.

Next were the Singles. On Court 5, Naomi Cheong won easily by 6-1 and 6-3.

On Court 3, Snow Han also won easily by 6-3 and 6-0.

Our women led 3-0 over the Bruins.

Unfortunately, UCLA won the next three matches to tie the score at 3 points apiece.

On Court 4 Grace Piper lost by 6-0, 4-6, 1-6.

On Court 6 Danielle Willson lost two close sets by 6-7 (2) and 5-7.

On Court 2 Eryn Cayetano's scores were 6-2, 5-7, 3-6.

The entire match came down on the shoulders of Senior Salma Ewing and her opponent.

Salma won the first set 6-4 and lost the second set 2-6 to the higher ranked Bruin, Abigail Forbes. The third set was exciting as Salma hit several sharp winners. Here is the video Trojan Candy took of the end of Salma’s match. Yeah! Salma beat Abigail 6-3 in her third set. Our Women of Troy beat the Bruins 4-3!

Our victorious Women of Troy ended their victory with “FIGHT ON!”

What a memorable, exciting match!

FIGHT ON, Women of Troy Tennis!