Women’s football | November 6, 2024

THIS WEEK – The No. 4 USC women’s soccer team will play Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Thursday at 12:00 PM PT/2:00 PM CT at CITYPARK Field in St. Louis, Missouri. With a win, the Trojans will advance to the Tournament Finals on Sunday against the winner of UCLA and Washington. After winning the Big Ten regular season title, the Trojans are the top seed in the tournament.

HOW TO FOLLOW – Sunday’s game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network. Links for the broadcast and live stats can be found on the women’s soccer schedule page at USCTrojans.com. In-game updates will also be available on X (formerly Twitter) by following @USC_Wsoccer.

SOCIAL MEDIA – Stay up to date with all things USC women’s soccer this year by following the Trojans on all their social media platforms. You can follow @USCWsoccer on Instagram, @uscwomenssoccer on Tik Tok @USC_Wsoccer on X, and like USC Women’s Soccer on Facebook.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. RUTGERS – The Trojans and Scarlet Knights have met once before, in 2004 when the Trojans won 3-2 in double overtime. The teams traded goals with Rutgers scoring first, but the winning goal came in the 105th minute in double overtime to give the Trojans the victory in the non-conference match. Thursday will mark the first time the programs meet as conference foes after not playing each other during the regular season.

BIG TEN POST SEASON PRIZES – This week, the Big Ten Postseason awards were presented and 10 Trojans were honored. Helena Sampaio was named Midfielder of the Year, Laurence Gladu Goalkeeper of the Year and Jane Alukonis was named Coach of the Year. Four Trojans earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, with Gladu and Sampaio joining them Maile Hayes And Brooklyn Courtnall. Maria Alagoa was named to the All-Big Ten second team and Kayla Colbert And Simone Jackson earned third team recognition. Believe George And Ines Derrien were named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT- After winning the regular season title with an undefeated conference season, the Trojans are the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament. The 10-team tournament consists of a single elimination, with the 7-10 seeds playing to see who will face the top two seeds. The early rounds of the tournament will be played at the University of Minnesota before moving to CITYPARK in Missouri for the semifinals and finals.

RPI RANKING – New RPI rankings were released after the Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title last week and USC checked in at No. 5. USC is one of three Big Ten programs ranked in the Top 10, with Penn State No. 9 and Iowa No. 10. USC’s lone loss came just over a month ago at Stanford, which is ranked No. 8 on the latest RPI list.

COACHES POLL – The Trojans reached the Top 4 of the Top 25 for the first time this season, in the most recent rankings, and were ranked No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. USC started the season at No. 23, but fell out of the polls after tying in their opener. Since then, USC’s only loss was to then No. 1 ranked Stanford. Before breaking into the Top 4, the Trojans were ranked No. 6.

COMMISSION TOP 16 D1 – The D1 committee released their Top 16 postseason projections two weeks ago, with USC ranked at No. 11. The committee uses adjusted Rating Percentage Index (RPI), head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents and strength of schedule to create their Top 16 rankings. In addition to the Trojans, there were four other Big Ten teams in the Top 13 of the rankings. Since the committee’s Top 16 was released, USC has gone 3-0 with wins over three ranked opponents.

QUARTERFINAL WIN VS. OSU Jaiden Anderson scored just over a minute into overtime to lead USC past Ohio State, 1-0, and into the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Monday. The Trojans had by far the majority of their chances in regulation, outscoring the Buckeyes 18-3 and putting six shots on goal. After a scoreless 90 minutes, Anderson was able to guide a shot over the goal line at the 1:26 mark. first overtime. Laurence Gladu made the only save needed from her to make it overtime and then didn’t get another chance in overtime as she recorded her 10th shutout of the year. The overtime victory extended the Trojans’ winning streak to eight games and their undefeated streak to twelve.

B1G CHAMPIONSHIP WIN VS. UCLA- USC capped an undefeated Big Ten regular season with a 1-0 win over UCLA to claim the Big Ten title on Sunday. Maile Hayes scored in the 36th minute and the Trojan defense stopped the UCLA attack as the Trojans claimed the first Big Ten crown for any USC sport. The USC defense and goaltender Laurence Gladu recorded their ninth shutout of the year, holding the Bruins to a season-low five shots. It was the first outright conference title in program history, the only other being a three-way tie for Pac-10 title in 1998. USC’s 10-0-1 Big Ten record marks the first undefeated conference season in program history and sets a new program record for conference wins .

PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

• Maile Hayes leads the Trojans in points and goals with 19 points, 8 goals and 3 assists. Monday against Ohio State, Hayes had an assist on the game-winning goal in overtime. Last week, she scored the game-winning goal against UCLA, earning her the title of Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Three weeks ago, she scored twice against Oregon, marking her fourth career two-goal game. Her two-goal performance led to her being named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. She has 10 points in the last seven games for the Trojans. She was named to the All-Big Ten first team.
• Maria Alagoa is second in points on the team with 13 points. Alagoa has five goals and three assists for nine points in the Trojans’ last eight games this year. Alagoa added her most recent point on Monday with an assist on the game-winning goal in overtime against Ohio State. She was also named to the All-Big Ten second team.
• Helena Sampaio is third on the team in points, with 3 goals and a team high 6 assists. Her most recent score came against Penn State, where she scored a winning goal from a free kick from 25 yards out with 20 seconds left. With her clutch goal, Sampaio was awarded the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week this week. She added an assist in the Trojans’ win over UCLA last week. She was named Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, as well as All-Big Ten first team honors.
• Kayla Colbert is fourth on the team in points with 11. Colbert has 4 goals and 3 assists. Colbert added two assists against Illinois three weeks ago. She received All-Big Ten third team honors.
• Senior Simone Jackson scored her second goal of the year against Ohio State three weeks ago, which turned out to be the winning goal. Last season, Jackson had an impressive Junior year, finishing 5th on the team with 10 total points (5 goals) while being named to the All-Pac-12 second team. She was named to the All-Big Ten third team this year.
• Freshman Believe George has 9 points. George has three goals and three assists and scored her third goal of the year against Illinois three weeks ago. She was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
• Freshman Ines Derrien was recognized three weeks ago with the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award after scoring her first collegiate goal on Sunday at Northwestern. After making a mistake in the penalty area, Derrien was rewarded with a penalty, which she scored. Derrien has played in every game for the Trojans so far. She was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
• Freshman Jaiden Anderson scored her second goal of the season on Monday, a game-winning goal in overtime in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Her first goal of the season came a month ago vs. Wisconsin. Anderson played in 17 of 18 games for the Trojans this season, adding 2 assists to her 2 goals.
• Goalkeeper, Laurence Gladuis the only Trojan to have played all 1,622 minutes so far this season. Brooklyn Courtnall leads the way for field players with 1,538 minutes played.
• GladuThis year’s ten shutouts are the second most in the Big Ten and the tenth most in the NCAA. She opened Big Ten conference play with three straight shutouts. In wins over four straight opponents to end the regular season and start postseason play, her only goal allowed was a PK. Gladu was named Big Ten Goaltender of the Year.
• USC’s 32 goals were scored by 10 different players. The Trojans also have points from 10 different players.
• USC has defeated 13 of their 18 opponents and has outscored 245-136 opponents overall this year.
• The Trojans are currently on a 12-game undefeated streak and an eight-game winning streak. The Trojans haven’t trailed since September 8, when they lost 2-1 to then-No. 1 Stanford.