No. 4 USC Women's Soccer will face Rutgers in the Big Ten semifinals

Women's football | November 6, 2024

THIS WEEK – The No. 4 USC women's soccer team plays Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Thursday at 12 p.m. PT/2 p.m. CT at CITYPARK Field in St. Louis, Missouri. With a win, the Trojans advance to the tournament final on Sunday, against the winner of UCLA and Washington. After winning the Big Ten regular season title, the Trojans are the top seed in the tournament.

HOW TO FOLLOW – Sunday's game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network. For broadcast links and live stats, visit 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 – Stay up to date on 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. RUTGERS – The Trojans and Scarlet Knights have met before, in 2004, when the Trojans won 3-2 in double overtime. The teams traded goals, with Rutgers scoring first, but the game-winning goal came in the 105th minute of double overtime, giving the Trojans the win in non-conference play. On Thursday, the programs will meet as conference opponents for the first time after not playing each other in the regular season.

BIG TEN POSTSEASON AWARDS – The Big Ten Postseason Awards were released this 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, including Gladu and Sampaio Email Hayes And Brooklyn Courtnall. Maria Alagoa was named to the All-Big Ten second team and Kayla Colbert And Simone Jackson received third team recognition. Believe George And Ines Derrien were named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT – After winning the regular season title with an undefeated conference season, the Trojans are the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Conference tournament. The 10-team tournament is a single-elimination tournament in which the 7th through 10th seeds play to see who will face the top two seeds. The first rounds of the tournament will be held at the University of Minnesota before moving to CITYPARK in Missouri for the semifinals and finals.

RPI RANKING – New RPI rankings were released after the Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title last week and USC landed at No. 5. USC is one of three Big Ten programs ranked in the top 10, with Penn State at No. 9 and Iowa at No. 10. USC's only loss came over a month ago at Stanford, which is ranked No. 8 in the latest RPI list lands.

Coach survey – The Trojans made it into the top four of the top 25 in the current rankings for the first time this season and were ranked No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. USC started the season ranked 23rd but dropped out of the polls after a tie in the opener. Since then, USC has only lost to then-No. 1 ranked Stanford. Before breaking into the top four, the Trojans were No. 6.

TOP 16 OF THE D1 COMMITTEE – The D1 committee released its top 16 postseason predictions two weeks ago, with USC coming in at No. 11. The committee uses the Adjusted Rating Percentage Index (RPI), head-to-head competition, results compared to common opponents and strength of schedule to determine their top 16 rankings. In addition to the Trojans, four other Big Ten teams were also in the top 13 of the rankings. Since the committee's Top 16 was released, USC has gone 3-0 against three ranked opponents.

QUARTERFINAL WIN VS. OSU – Jaiden Anderson scored just over a minute into overtime to lead USC past Ohio State 1-0 and into the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Monday. The Trojans had by far the most chances in regulation, outscoring the Buckeyes 18-3 and putting six shots on goal. After a scoreless 90 minutes, Anderson was able to direct a shot over the goal line at 1:26 into first overtime. Laurence Gladu made the only save she needed to get into overtime, then had no chance in overtime as she recorded her 10th shutout of the year. The overtime victory extended the Trojans' winning streak to eight games and their undefeated streak to 12.

B1G CHAMPIONSHIP WIN VS. UCLA – USC capped an undefeated Big Ten regular season with a 1-0 victory over UCLA to clinch the Big Ten title on Sunday. Email Hayes scored a goal in the 36th minute and the Trojans defense stopped the UCLA attack as the Trojans won USC's first Big Ten title in a sport. The USC defense and goalkeeper Laurence Gladu recorded their ninth shutout of the year and held the Bruins to a season-low five hits. It was the first outright conference title in program history, the only other being a Pac-10 title shared by three players 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:

• Email Hayes leads the Trojans in points and goals with 19 points, 8 goals and 3 assists. On Monday against Ohio State, Hayes provided an assist for the game-winning goal in overtime. Last week, she scored the game-winning goal against UCLA and was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Against Oregon three weeks ago, she scored two goals, which was her fourth career game in which she scored two goals. Her two-goal performance led to her being named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. She has 10 points in the last seven games for the Trojans. She was named to the All-Big Ten first team.
• Maria Alagoa Is Second in points on the team with 13 points. Alagoa has 5 goals and 3 assists this year and has 9 points in the Trojans' last eight games. Alagoa got her final point on Monday with an assist on the game-winning goal in overtime against Ohio State. She was also named to the All-Big Ten second team.
• Helena Sampaio is the team's third best player with 3 goals and 6 assists. Her most recent goal came against Penn State, where she scored the game-winning goal with 20 seconds left on a free kick from 25 yards out. With her game-winning goal, Sampaio was named this week's Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Last week, she had an assist in the Trojans' win over UCLA. She was named Big Ten Midfielder of the Year as well as first-team All-Big Ten.
• Kayla Colbert is fourth on the team with 11 points. Colbert has 4 goals and 3 assists. Colbert added two assists against Illinois three weeks ago. She earned third-team All-Big Ten honors.
• senior Simone Jackson scored her second goal of the year three weeks ago against Ohio State, which turned out to be the game-winning goal. Last season, Jackson had an impressive junior year, finishing 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.
• Freshmen Believe George has 9 points. George has 3 goals and 3 assists and scored her third goal of the year three weeks ago against Illinois. She was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
• Freshmen Ines Derrien earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors three weeks ago after scoring her first collegiate goal Sunday at Northwestern. After a foul in the penalty area, Derrien was rewarded with a penalty, which she scored. Derrien has played in every game for the Trojans so far. She was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
• Freshmen Jaiden Anderson scored her second goal of the season on Monday, a game-winning overtime goal in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. She scored her first goal of the season a month ago against Wisconsin. Anderson appeared in 17 of the 18 games for the Trojans this season and contributed two assists to their two goals.
• Goalie, Laurence GladuHe is the only Trojan to have played all 1,622 minutes so far this season. Brooklyn Courtnall is the leader among field players with 1,538 minutes played.
• GladuThe 10 shutouts this year are the second-most in the Big Ten and the 10th-most in the NCAA. She opened Big Ten conference play with three consecutive shutouts. When she won against four consecutive opponents to close the regular season and start the postseason, she was only allowed one PK. Gladu was named Big Ten Goaltender of the Year.
• USC's 32 goals were scored by 10 different players. The Trojans also had points from 10 different players.
• USC has beaten 13 of its 18 opponents and has outscored opponents overall 245-136 on the year.
• The Trojans are currently on a 12-game unbeaten streak and an 8-game winning streak. The Trojans haven't trailed in a game since Sept. 8, when they lost 2-1 to then-No. 1 Stanford.