USC’s women’s soccer team faces tough competition at Notre Dame Adidas Invitational

With a win over Long Beach State and an exciting double-overtime tie with San Diego, the USC women’s soccer team has started its season off on the right foot. In fact, the team nearly pulled out the victory over San Diego, as the Women of Troy outshot the Toreros 13-6 on the game (6-2 in shots on goal), and had several opportunities that just missed or were spoiled by San Diego’s standout goalkeeper Michelle Craft. USC’s attack was lead by junior Megan Borman, who tallied six shots in the game, with four being on goal and one finding the back of the net in the first half against San Diego for the Trojans’ only goal of the game.

While a pair of wins would have been an ideal start to the season, especially considering the learning process that is necessary with a new coaching staff, there is no doubt that the team feels good about their opening two matches.

“We played really solid last weekend against two teams that are going to win a fair amount of games this season,” said head coach Keidane McAlpine. “We are obviously still growing as a team and it’s early in the season, but we are pleased with the fact that, thus far, we are undefeated.”

With opening weekend in the books, the Women of Troy will now look to continue gaining momentum this weekend as they head to South Bend, Indiana, to participate in the Notre Dame adidas Invitational. They will play two games over the course of the road trip, kicking off Friday evening against the Iowa State Cyclones. The team will then have a day off Saturday before taking on the tournament host and school rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who are currently ranked No. 11 in the country.

When asked of the importance of this trip, McAlpine didn’t sugarcoat his response: “We are playing two great opponents from two big conferences,” he said. “It’s going to be a good way to measure ourselves. Between the travel, the environment and the opponents, this will be a good test for us to see where we are and how we need to improve going forward.”

The first measurement will begin Friday at 5 p.m. ET against an iowa State team that has started their season with a win and a loss. In their season opener on Friday, Aug. 22, the Cyclones annihilated Mississippi State 5-1. Then, this past Sunday, they valiantly battled a fringe top-25 team in the Mississippi Rebels, losing just 1-0.

As easy as it might be for the Women of Troy to look forward to the Sunday showdown against the Fighting Irish, McAlpine was adamant that the team must not look past their game Friday.

“Iowa State is a very tough, physical, up-and-coming team,” he remarked. “Our job is to go out and perform well on Friday against them. If we do that, it will put us in the right state mentally to beat Notre Dame on Sunday.” As exciting as beating Notre Dame would be, even a draw against the Irish should be seen as a victory, especially considering that the game will be played at Notre Dame’s home field.

Thus far, the Fighting Irish are off to a predictably good start to the season, with two victories over Illinois 3-1 Friday, Aug. 22 and Oakland 3-0 last Sunday. Before the matinee showdown against our Women of Troy on Sunday, the Irish will have a tough matchup against the No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders on Friday night, who will be looking to upset host Notre Dame and surpass them in the national rankings.

As for how the Trojans stack up against the Irish, McAlpine is not intimidated.

“Notre Dame is just like any other team in that they’ve got to come out and show up to beat us,” he said. “That’s the beauty of this game. If we come prepared, pay attention to details, and play sound defensively, we will give ourselves a chance to win and provide Notre Dame with a tough challenge.”

Due to the size of Iowa State and the challenge presented by Notre Dame, the two games this weekend will likely boost the RPI ranking of the Women of Troy regardless of the outcome. However, if the Trojans are able to come away with wins or draws in the two games, some significant movement could take place in the national rankings for the team, especially with a good showing against the Irish.

Even though it is still early in the season, the Women of Troy know that this trip is a great chance to prove that they can play with any team in the nation. More important for the team, however, is to take advantage of the opportunity to play two tough non-conference opponents in an intense environment before the perennially difficult Pac-12 Conference season.

“It’s no secret we play in a very tough conference,” McAlpine said. “This trip will help us prepare for that conference schedule, which will in turn help us position ourselves long-term to achieve the goal that we have had as a team from day one: to make it into the NCAA Tournament.”

Regardless of the outcome this weekend, McAlpine wants to see his players continue to play hard and improve. If they do this, he is confident that this team has what it takes to achieve their goals.

“We’ve grown better every day up to this point,” McAlpine concluded. “If we continue to grow this weekend and every week from this point on, we are going to be in a good place at the end of the season, when it really matters.”