Northern California schools to host the Women of Troy


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The Women of Troy end the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference portion of their schedule this weekend as they travel to the Bay Area for two crucial road matches against No. 8 San Jose State (14-9, 2-4) and No. 2 Stanford (18-1, 4-0).

Road trippin’ · USC is ranked No. 3 in the country and will take its six-game winning streak up north to San Jose State and Stanford. - Chris Pham | Daily Trojan

A sweep on the team’s trip north could put No. 3 USC (17-3, 4-1) in position for a first-place finish in the MPSF as USC tries to extend its six-game winning streak.

The weekend starts Friday at 1 p.m. with a clash against San Jose State, which has won seven of its last nine matches.

In their season opener, the Women of Troy claimed a 14-6 victory over the Spartans at the Stanford Invitational to extend their all-time record against them to 24-0.

The Spartans are led by attacker Dani Curran and utility player Anna Natalizio, who have combined for 88 goals as San Jose’s top scorers.

The marquee matchup of the weekend goes down Saturday at 1 p.m., when the Women of Troy travel to Palo Alto to play the No. 2 Cardinal.

The two squads matched up earlier this season at the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 4, when the Cardinal eked out an 8-7 win over USC.

Stanford’s only loss of the season came in a 5-4 nail-biter to No. 1 UCLA at the UCI Invitational in late February. Since then, Stanford has reeled off seven wins in a row by an average of 9.7 goals.

Goalkeeper Kate Baldoni is a force in the cage for Stanford, averaging 9.7 saves per game while allowing only 4.5 goals per game.

The Cardinal has a pair of freshman for leading scorers in driver Kiley Neushul with 42 goals and two-meter Ashley Grossman with 37 goals.

USC is 24-24 all-time against Stanford and has lost the last five matches in the rivalry, including an 8-4 defeat in the NCAA semifinals last year.

Both matches tip off at 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and after this weekend, the Women of Troy get a two-week break before wrapping up the regular season against CSU Bakersfield on April 20.