STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 16-ranked USC lacrosse team (12-1, 7-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 20 Stanford (8-4, 4-3) in double-overtime, 11-10, at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium on Sunday, March 31. The Women of Troy stayed undefeated in Pac-12 contests and extended to a nine-game winning streak.

KEY PLAYERS

• Sophomore midfielder Kelsey Huff scored four goals including the overtime game-winner to record her sixth hat trick (third straight) of the season; the 12th of her career. Huff also had an assist, two ground balls, and a caused turnover.
• Sophomore goalie Riley Hertford had eight saves and five ground balls in the cage.
• Junior attacker Izzy McMahon scored two goals and had an assist to go with three draw controls.
• Sophomore attacker Sophia Donovan scored a goal and had two assists.
• For the Cardinal, Katherine Gjertsen scored four goals, including the tap-in that sent the game into extra time. Julia Massaro led all players with nine draw controls. Ali Baiocco scored three goals and had an assist. Daniella McMahon caused three turnovers and had five ground balls but committed seven turnovers herself. In goal, Trudie Grattan had six saves.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Neither team ever led by more than two goals in a game that was full of 3-0 runs. Stanford struck first, but the Trojans went in front, 2-1, on goals from Donovan and senior attacker Emily Concialdi. The Cardinal put together the first 3-0 run to lead, 4-2, on back-to-back goals by Baiocco. USC answered with its own 3-0 run and had back-to-back goals from Huff to take a 5-4 lead over Stanford with 5:40 to play in the first half.
• The Cardinal got a third goal from Baiocco and then Gjertsen scored with one second left in the half to give Stanford a 6-5 lead at the break. Galen Lew scored the first goal of the second half to make it another 3-0 run for the Cardinal, which led, 7-5. McMahon had two goals to sandwich another from Kaeli Huff to make it a 3-0 burst for USC, which regained the lead, 8-7.
• Stanford forced the sixth tie of the game at eight-all on a goal from Mikaela Watson, but Huff got her hat trick to put the Trojans up, 9-8. Gjertsen's third goal tied the score for a seventh time at nine-all. Hope Anhut put the Trojans in front, 10-9, with her goal at 1:46, but a crazy sequence to end the game got Stanford the eighth tie of the game on a last-second tap-in by Gjertsen, who received a pass from Genesis Lucero, who had backed up an earlier shot attempt.
• The Trojans and Cardinal played through an entire overtime period in which each of the three-minute halves ended with a tie-preserving save by Hertford. Stanford won each of the three draws in overtime, but Hertford's final save got the Women of Troy the final shot they needed. Kerrigan Miller found Huff on the right side of the goal for a one-timer that found the back of the net and sewed up the victory for the Trojans.

UP NEXT

• USC returns home to McAlister Field where it is 5-0 this season and will host Colorado (5-5, 4-1 Pac-12) on Friday (April 5) for a 3 p.m. game and Oregon (2-10, 0-5) on Sunday (April 7). Both games will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks. 

GAME NOTES

• USC improved to 7-6 all-time against Stanford. The Trojans also improved to 10-3 all-time in games played in the Bay Area.
• The Trojans improved to 4-6 all-time in overtime games and won its first-ever overtime contest on the road (previously 0-3).
• USC and Stanford played to an overtime finish at Cagan Stadium for the second time in as many meetings. The Cardinal won, 12-11, on its own home field in 2018.
• The winner between USC and Stanford was decided by a single goal for the sixth time in the series' history. It was also the fourth time in the last five meetings that it has come down to a single goal.
• The Trojans' 12-1 record is the program's second-best start, behind only a 20-0 start to the 2016 season.
• USC extended to a nine-game winning streak; the third longest in school history. (20 in 2016; 12 in 2017).
• The win over No. 20-ranked Stanford marks USC's 19th all-time win over a ranked foe (19-27).
• USC finished the month of March with a 9-1 record after playing 10 games in the span of just 31 days. By contrast, the Trojans will play just four games over the next 20 days.

For more information on the USC women's lacrosse team, a complete schedule, and results, please visit USCTrojans.com. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow the team on Instagram and on Twitter @USCTrojansLax.