No. 9 USC Women's Soccer Hosts No. 15 Ohio State at BMO Stadium

THIS WEEK - The No. 9 USC women's soccer team begins a three-game home stand to close the regular season, taking on No. 15 Ohio State on Thursday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, followed by a match with No. 16 Penn State on Sunday at Diginity Health Sports Park in Carson.

HOW TO FOLLOW - Thursday and Sundays matches will both be broadcast live on BTN+. Links for the broadcasts 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 - Keep up with everything USC women's soccer this year by following the Trojans on all of 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.

BMO STADIUM - Thursday's game at BMO Stadium will be free and open to the public, with fans able to claim their free tickets by visiting USCTrojans.com/soccerBMO. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a free pair of USC sunglasses. All tickets for the match are general admission.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS OHIO STATE - The Trojans and Buckeyes have faced off once before in 2009 for a neutral site Nike Classic tournament. The match was scoreless until the 79th minute where a penalty kick was awarded and the Buckeyes. At the time the Trojans were ranked No. 24 and the Buckeyes were unranked. The Trojans and Buckeyes meet for the second time this Thursday which will be the first time the teams meet while both programs are ranked in the Top 25 and members of the Big Ten.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS PENN STATE - The Trojans and Nittany Lions have met four times with USC going 1-2-1 in the meetings. The most recent match was in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, resulting in a tie. The Trojans and Nittany Lions traded goals with Penn State scoring first in the 21st minute, followed by a USC goal in the 49th minute. Penn State regained the lead in the 57th minute and in the 86th minute, current USC senior Simone Jackson found the equalizer. The Trojans did not allow a shot through the two overtimes, and overall outshot the Nittany Lions 21-5. Penn State would advance on penalty kicks (5-3), however.

BIG TEN TITLE RACE - With three games left in the regular season, the Trojans are tied atop the Big Ten standings with archrivals UCLA. Both teams are sitting on 22 points, followed by Iowa at 19, Ohio State and Rutgers at 17, Penn State at 16, and Michigan State and Washington at 15. No other Big Ten team can catch the Trojans. USC has an opportunity to clinch a Big Ten title as soon as Sunday depending on UCLA and Iowa's results. If the Trojans win out, they guarantee themselves an outright conference title, which would be the first in program history.

RPI RANKING - New RPI rankings were released and the Trojans checked in at No. 10 after going 9-1-1 on the road and 2-0-1 at home so far this season. USC is one of six Big Ten programs ranked inside the Top 15, with Iowa No. 7, Penn State No. 8, Michigan State No. 12, Ohio State 13, and No. 15 UCLA. USC's lone loss came from Stanford over a month ago, who checks in at No. 6 on the newest RPI list.

COACHES POLL - The Trojans jumped up 10 spots in the Top 25 this week, checking in at No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. USC started the season ranked No. 23, but fell out of the polls after a draw in their opener. Since then, USC's only loss has been to then-No. 1 ranked Stanford. Last week the Trojans were No. 19.

SUNDAY WIN AT NW - The Trojans picked up a 2-1 win on the road at Northwestern on Sunday. USC struck first, getting a goal off a rebound from Maria Alagoa in the 15th minute to take a 1-0 advantage into the half. The Trojan lead lasted until the 53rd minute when Northwestern found an equalizer off a set piece, scoring in traffic on a long free kick played deep into the box. Ines Derrien would put USC back in front just about six minutes later, as she fought her way into the area and was taken down to earn a penalty kick. Derrien would convert the PK for her first collegiate goal. Laurence Gladu made five saves in the contest, with four coming in the second half.

THURSDAY WIN AT ILL - USC held on for a 3-2 win on the road at Illinois on Thursday night. USC struck first in the 9th minute, getting a goal from Maria Alagao off of a nice combined feed from Kayla Colbert and Maile Hayes. The Trojan defense held the Illini to just two shots in the half. Hayes and Colbert needed just 25 seconds into the second half to double the lead, with Hayes scoring off a blocked shot from Colbert. Faith George seemingly put the game away with a strike in the 73rd minute, getting a short cross from Alagoa. The Illini would make it interesting, though, scoring just 25 seconds after George's strike. Five minutes later, the home team made it a one-goal game. The Trojan defense locked things down over the final 12 minutes, with Illinois getting off just one shot down the stretch. The Trojans outshot the Fighting Illini 12-9 en route to victory.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

Maile Hayes leads the Trojans in points and goals with 16 points, 7 goals, and 2 assists. Hayes scored once last week against Illinois and had an assist in the game to add to her point total. Against Oregon two weeks ago, she scored twice, which was her fourth career 2 goal game. Her two goal performance led her to be named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, last week. She has 7 points in the last three games for the Trojans.
Maria Alagoa is second in points on the team having 12 points. Alagoa has 5 goals and 2 assists, including a goal and an assist in the Trojans game at Illinois, and another goal on Sunday at Northwestern. Alagoa has 8 points in the Trojans last four matches.
Kayla Colbert in third on the team in points with 11, with 4 goals and 3 assists. Colbert Added 2 assists in the game at Illinois last week.
Freshman Faith George and Senior Helena Sampaio both have 9 points each. George has 3 goals and 3 assists while Alagoa has 2 goals and 5 assist. George scored her third goal of the year against Illinois last week.
Freshman Ines Derrien was recognized with the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award this week after scoring her first collegiate goal on Sunday at Northwestern. After being fouled inside the box, Derrien was rewarded with a penalty kick, which she scored. Derrien has appeared in every match so far for the Trojans.
Senior Simone Jackson and Freshman Jaiden Anderson both scored their first goal of the season three weeks ago vs. Wisconsin. Last season Jackson had an impressive Junior year and was 5th on the team with 10 total points (5 goals) while being named to the All-Pac-12 second team. Anderson has appeared in every game this season for the Trojans and has added 2 assists to her lone goal.
Goalie, Laurence Gladu, is the only Trojan to play all 1,260 minutes so far this season. Brooklyn Courtnall leads the way for field players with 1,176 minutes played.
Gladu's seven shutouts on the year are the 2nd most in the Big Ten and 18th most in the NCAA. She opened Big Ten conference play with three straight shutouts.
USC's 27 goals have been scored by 9 different players. The Trojans also have points from 10 different players.
USC has outshot 9 of their 14 opponents and on the year has outshot opponents by a total of 189-119.
USC is tied for second in the Big Ten for having the most players with multiple goals on the season (5).

ROAD WARRIORS - With construction ongoing at Rawlinson Stadium, the Trojans started the year with nine straight road contests, going 7-1-1 over that span. USC's 9 road victories are the most in the country and the team's 11 total road contests on the schedule are tied for the most in the NCAA. The Trojans closed out their conference road schedule last week, going undefeated in their 8 conference road games (7-0-1).

RAWLINSON STADIUM - USC is making a big investment in its women's soccer program as the school is currently building a new home on campus for the team. Rawlinson Stadium will replace and expand upon the previous site of play for the team: Soni McAlister Field at 30th and Hoover streets just north of the University Park Campus. The $38 million project broke ground on April 9 of this year and is scheduled to be completed early in 2025.

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Players Mentioned

Maria Alagoa

Jaiden Anderson

Kayla Colbert

Brooklyn Courtnall

Ines Derrien

Faith George

Laurence Gladu

Maile Hayes

Simone Jackson

Helena Sampaio