USC Women’s Lacrosse Releases the Floodgates in its Pac-12 Road Opener

Saturday, March 23

Tempe, Ariz.

12:00 PM

USC

8-3

Arizona State

5-5

Southern California

Arizona State

Photo by: John McGillen/USC Athletics

USC Women’s Lacrosse Releases the Floodgates in its Pac-12 Road Opener

March 23, 2024 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

The Trojans dominant the Sun Devils in their first hint of road conference action

TEMPE, Ariz. - The 17-ranked USC lacrosse team (8-3, 2-0 Pac-12) downs Arizona State (5-5, 1-1 Pac-12), 16-7, on Saturday, Mar. 23 at the Sun Devil Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium.

KEY PLAYERS:

Freshman Annie Shields picked up her first-career win in the net, as she made her second career start for the Trojans. The goalkeeper allowed seven goals and made four saves.
Graduate student Ella Heaney and senior Maggie Brown both put together four-goal games. This is Heaney's 20^thcareer hat trick and Brown's 14^th; she is now tied with senior Claudia Shevitz and redshirt junior Isabelle Vitale for 11^th in program history.
Junior Catherine Lord had a huge game, as she did everything with four draw controls, two caused turnovers and two groundballs.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The first quarter saw the emergence of freshman Shields. Shields posted three saves as she shut out the Sun Devils to begin the game. On the other side, USC converted five shots-on-goal into three goals. Redshirt sophomore Kailey Pelkey started it all, scoring at 13:03 in the first. Pelkey has been on a tear since recording her first career goal three games ago, as she is now on a streak of scoring in three straight games. Outside of that, it was the usual culprits as senior Maggie Brown scored at 3:16 and senior Claudia Shevitz ended it with a goal at :19.
USC saw another dominant quarter, as it outscored Arizona State 5-2 throughout. The Trojans were helped by Brown, who continued her tirade, scoring two more to give her a first-half hat trick. Junior Christina Gagnon also got on the board at 9:05, as she concluded USC's 5-0 run to begin the game before the Sun Devils finally got on the board. Gagnon's goal was her third of the season. Arizona State would get one more, but USC would cement its lead with another run, this time being 3-1, to give the Women of Troy a halftime lead of 8-2.
The third was a little tamer, as USC scored three while the Sun Devils scored twice. Arizona State saved its most shots of the game, as the Trojans took nine quarter-high shots in the third. Six of those nine were on goal for USC. Both redshirt junior Isabelle Vitale and senior Shelby Tilton were able to get in on the goal-scoring, as Tilton found one at 10:16 and Vitale netted one at 7:21.
In the fourth, the Trojans flirted with the ten-goal lead, as they were able to get up on Arizona State by double digits twice before falling back to single digits. In the quarter, both Heaney and Brown scored their fourth goal, while USC secured the victory 16-7.

UP NEXT:
The Women of Troy host their first home match in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum as they face California at 12 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 31 in Los Angeles.

GAME NOTES:

The Trojans are now 62-31 all-time in road games, and 19-6 in Pac-12 road games.
USC now leads 12-2 in the all-time series vs. Arizona State and is 6-1 in Tempe, Arizona.
Goalkeeper Annie Shields recorded her first-career win, in her second-career start.

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 X @USCTrojansLax.