No. 19 USC Women's Soccer Hits the Road Against Illinois, Northwestern

THIS WEEK - The No. 19 USC women's soccer team goes back on the road for their last two away games of the regular season, facing Illinois on Thursday at 5 pm PT followed by Northwestern on Sunday at 12 pm PT.

HOW TO FOLLOW - Both Thursdays and Sundays match will 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.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS ILLINOIS - The Trojans and Illini have faced off twice before, these meetings coming in back-to-back years. The first matchup came in 2010, in the first round of the NCAA tournament where the Trojans took a 3-1 win in the South Bend regional site. The second matchup came in 2011, where the Trojans traveled to Urbana-Champaign and won 3-1.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS NW - This will be the first ever meeting between the two soccer programs. With the Trojans moving into the Big Ten this season, they will open up their all-time Series vs Northwestern this Sunday.

SAT VICTORY VS OREGON - After celebrating Senior Day pregame, senior forward Maile Hayes scored twice to lead the No. 21 USC women's soccer team to a 2-0 win over Oregon. Hayes scored once in each half, putting the Trojans on the board in the 18th minute when she banged home her own rebound on a shot in the box. She would make it 2-0 in the 63rd minute, getting a feed from Simone Jackson in the box. The Trojan attack was relentless, firing 31 shots in the game and putting nine on target. Conversely, Oregon had just three shots in the game, with only one coming in the second half. USC also had a 13-1 advantage in corner kicks. It was the seventh shutout of the year for USC as the Trojans remain unbeaten in Big Ten play.

B1G STANDINGS - The Trojans are tied atop the Big Ten standings with 16 points (5-0-1). In addition to being unbeaten in conference play, USC has only allowed two goals since conference action started, giving up a pair of scores in a 2-2 tie with Minnesota.

RPI RANKING - The new RPI rankings were released on Monday and the Trojans checked in at No. 9 after going 7-1-1 on the road and 2-0-1 at home so far this season. USC is one of four Big Ten teams in the Top 9, with Michigan State No. 4, Penn State No. 6, and Iowa No. 7. USC's lone loss came from Stanford over a month ago, who checks in at No. 11 on the newest RPI list.

COACHES POLL - The Trojans remained in the Top 25 this week, checking in at No. 19 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. 21.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

Maile Hayes leads the Trojans in points and goals with 13 points, 6 goals, and 1 assist. Hayes scored two goals against Oregon to give her the solo points and goals lead on the team.
Two Trojans are tied for second on the team in points with Kayla Colbert and Helena Sampaio having 9 points. Colbert has 4 goals with 1 assist, and Sampaio has 2 goals and 5 assists. Sampaio has had an assist in both of the Trojans' last two games.
Freshman Faith George and Senior Maria Alagoa both have 7 points each. George has 2 goals and 3 assists while Alagoa has 3 goals and 1 assist.
Senior Simone Jackson and Freshman Jaiden Anderson both scored their first goal of the season two 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 1,080 minutes so far this season. Brooklyn Courtnall leads the way for field players with 996 minutes played.
Gladu's seven shutouts on the year are the 2nd most in the Big Ten and 11th most in the NCAA. She opened Big Ten conference play with three straight shutouts.
USC's 22 goals have been scored by 8 different players. The Trojans also have points from 10 different players.
USC has outshot 8 of their 12 opponents and on the year has outshot opponents by a total of 167-100.

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Players Mentioned

Maria Alagoa

Jaiden Anderson

Kayla Colbert

Brooklyn Courtnall

Faith George

Laurence Gladu

Maile Hayes

Simone Jackson

Helena Sampaio