USC Women's Soccer Opens NCAA Tournament Against Sacramento State

THIS WEEK - The No. 1 seeded USC women's soccer team plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Sacramento State on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.

HOW TO FOLLOW - Sunday's match will be broadcasted live on ESPN+. 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 - 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. SAC STATE - The Trojans and Hornets have met once before in 1995, when the Trojans won in dominating fashion, 7-0 in a nonconference matchup. This season against common opponents (Portland and Oregon) the Trojans are 2-0, while the Hornets are 0-2 against the Pilots and Ducks. It is the third ever NCAA Tournament appearance for the Hornets.

BIG TEN POSTSEASON AWARDS - The Big Ten Postseason awards were released last week 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 All-Big Ten first team honors, with Gladu and Sampaio joined by 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. Faith George and Ines Derrien were named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

NCAA TOURNAMENT - The USC women's soccer team earned the program's first-ever No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament with the release of the field on Monday. Playing its first season as a member of the Big Ten, USC won the conference's regular season title, going 10-0-1 in league play to secure the program's first undefeated conference season and first outright conference title. This is the 23rd NCAA Postseason appearance and 11th straight dating back to 2014 for the Trojans. USC has won two National Championships in its history, and has advanced past at least the first round 14 times, while also being a national seed in the NCAA field each of the last 10 years.

RANKINGS - Coming into the postseason, USC is ranked No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and No. 5 in the RPI rankings. USC started the season ranked No. 23 in the Coaches Poll, 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. USC is one of three Big Ten programs ranked inside the Top 10 in RPI, with Penn State No. 8 and UCLA No. 9.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT RECAP - After receiving the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, the Trojans traveled to the University of Minnesota, where the first two rounds of the tournament were hosted. The Trojans received a first round bye and faced off with Ohio State in round 2. The game went to OT after no score in regulation, but just 86 seconds into overtime, Jaiden Anderson scored the Golden Goal, to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. The Trojans faced off against Rutgers in St. Louis in the semis but were eliminated on PK's after a 1-1 tie through regulation and two overtimes. USC dominated possession and chances in the game, outshooting the Scarlet Knights 26-11 and holding 66% of the possession.

B1G CHAMPIONSHIP WIN VS. UCLA - USC capped off an unbeaten 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 shut down the UCLA attack as the Trojans claimed the first Big Ten crown for any USC sport. The USC defense and goalkeeper Laurence Gladu posted 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, with the only other being a three-way shared 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:

The Trojans come into the postseason undefeated in their last 13 matches (the Rutgers result is officially a draw). USC had a season best eight game winning streak before drawing against Rutgers. Dating back to last season, USC is unbeaten in its last 13 home matches (5-0-1 this year).
Maile Hayes leads the Trojans in points and goals with 19 points, 8 goals, and 3 assists. In the Big Ten Tournament against Ohio State, Hayes had an assist on the game-winning goal in overtime. Two weeks ago, she scored the game-winning goal vs. UCLA leading her to be named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Against Oregon three 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. She has 10 points in the last eight games for the Trojans. She was named to the All-Big Ten first team.
Maria Alagoa is second in points on the team having 13 points. Alagoa has 5 goals and 3 assists on the year with 9 points in the Trojans last nine matches. Alagoa added her most recent point coming in the Big Ten Tournament with an assist to the game-winning overtime goal against Ohio State. She was also named to the All-Big Ten second team.
Helena Sampaio is third in points on the team, with 3 goals and a team leading 6 assists. Her most recent score coming against Penn State, where she scored a game winning goal with 20 seconds left, on a free kick from 25 yards out. With her clutch goal, Sampaio was awarded with the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week this week. She added an assist in the Trojans win vs. UCLA two weeks ago. 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. She received All-Big Ten third team honors.
Senior Simone Jackson scored her third goal of the year in the Trojans most recent game against Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament game. Her second goal of the year was three weeks ago against Ohio State, that turned out to be the game winning goal. 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. She was named to the All-Big Ten third team this year.
Freshman Faith George has 9 points. George has 3 goals and 3 assists, scoring her third goal of the year against Illinois a month ago. She was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Freshman Ines Derrien was recognized with the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award a month ago 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. 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 has appeared in 18 of the 19 games this season for the Trojans and has added 2 assists to her 2 goals.
Goalie, Laurence Gladu, is the only Trojan to play all 1,732 minutes so far this season. Brooklyn Courtnall leads the way for field players with 1,648 minutes played.
Gladu's ten shutouts on the year are the 2nd most in the Big Ten and 14th most in the NCAA. They are also tied for the 4th most in a season by a USC goalkeeper. She opened Big Ten conference play with three straight shutouts. In wins over four straight ranked opponents to end the regular season and begin postseason play, her only goal allowed was a PK. Gladu was named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year.
Courtnall has started every game on the back line for USC this year, playing a full 90+ minutes in all but 4 games. For her career, she has started 73 of the 74 games she has appeared in.
USC's 33 goals have been scored by 10 different players. The Trojans also have points from 10 different players.
USC has outshot 14 of their 19 opponents and on the year has outshot opponents by a total of 271-147.

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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