No. 19 USC Lacrosse Locks the Wildcats Up in the 15-4 Win

Sunday, March 5

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 PM

USC

4-1

Villanova

4-1

Nova

USC

Photo by: John McGillen

No. 19 USC Lacrosse Locks the Wildcats Up in the 15-4 Win

March 05, 2023 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Highlights

The Trojans held Villanova to the least amount of points scored against USC since Apr. 28, 2019

LOS ANGELES - No. 19 USC Lacrosse (4-1) continues their recent defensive onslaught as it surrendered only four goals in the 15-4 victory over Villanova (4-1).

KEY PLAYERS:

Junior attacker Maggie Brown headlined the dominant victory as she posted her first hat trick of the 2023 season and the second of her career. Brown set two career-highs in this venture as she scored four goals.; while also generating a career-high with six points. Brown is now tied for second on the team for points with 12. Redshirt Sophomore Isabelle Vitale also joined the hat trick club, as she posted her second of the year and number nine for her career.
Sophomore midfielder Catherine Lord produced two new career highs as she picked up four groundballs and had four caused turnovers. The defending two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week also added three draw controls to her totals.
The central point of the USC defense held strong in this bout, as three of the four defensive starters claimed multiple caused turnovers. Graduate transfer Emma Wightman posted three and one groundball. Senior Danielle Carson forced two and picked up three groundballs. Senior Olivia Dooley also caused two and claimed two groundballs. Dooley leads the team with ten caused turnovers, followed by Wightman with eight.
Junior goalie Kait Devir kept the Wildcats out of the netting in the affair as she allowed just three goals and had four saves in 54 minutes and 42 seconds of work.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Entering the matchup, Villanova was running on all sorts of highs, as they were 4-0 and had the IWLCA co-offensive player of the week, Sydney Pappas. The Trojans defensively took that as a challenge, as they limited the prolific goal scorer to one goal in the outing. Pappas' lone goal came in the first after USC had already struck first two times in a row to make it 2-1.
Once again, the defense stood strong in the second, as the Wildcats would have to wait 20 minutes and 16 seconds before adding to their point total (Catherine Field scored at :41 in the second). Meanwhile, the Trojans took advantage, as Vitale and senior Ella Heaney posted two goals a piece to open the gap wider and give the Trojans a comfortable 7-2 lead.
Villanova would again suffer a long drought, as it scored at 14:21 in the third and only repeated that task at the closing minute at :51 in the fourth. This would mark a near half-hour scoreless span as the Trojans kept the Wildcats' offense silent for 28 minutes and 30 seconds.
In that span, USC would keep the pressure on and claim eight straight goals to push the game into a running clock situation.
One of the most significant reasons for the drought was the Women of Troys' ability to force a turnover, as they accumulated a season-high 17 caused turnovers. That number places this outing tied for tenth for USC's most caused turnovers in a single game.

UP NEXT:
The Trojans begin their second descent to the East Coast as they battle No. 15 Princeton at 9 a.m. Mar. 10 in Princeton, N.J. Following that will be an outing against Hofstra at 9 a.m. in Hempstead, N.Y.

GAME NOTES:

USC's four goals given up is the least amount of points scored by an opposing team since Apr. 28, 2019, against Colorado (W, 12-3)
This is the first time since Apr. 13-26, 2018, that the Trojans have won three consecutive games by eight or more goals.
Freshman Haley Newton claimed the first goal of her career with four minutes and 10 seconds left in the game.
USC extends their streak to 11 straight victories versus non-ranked opponents at McAlister Field.
The Women of Troy are 20-3 at home in non-conference bouts since 2016.
USC improves to 100-17 all-time versus unranked opponents
The Trojans are now 14-4 when starting a new series against a team since 2016.
Lindsey Munday is now 127-55 all-time as a head coach.