Women of Troy split a pair of matches to finish conference play

The Women of Troy split a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference matches on the road this weekend, defeating No. 8 San Jose State 8-5 on Friday before falling 9-8 in overtime to No. 2 Stanford on Saturday.

The road trip wrapped up USC’s conference schedule a week earlier than most teams, as the Women of Troy (18-4, 5-2) can only sit and wait to see where they’ll end up in the final conference standings before the MPSF tournament.

The Women of Troy currently sit in third place, but could move into a tie for second place if the Cardinal (19-1, 5-0) beat No. 1 UCLA (16-2, 5-1) in a matchup of the nation’s two top-ranked teams on April 21.

USC still had a chance to tie for first-place before this weekend, but had those hopes crushed with they close loss to Stanford.

Sophomore two-meter Madeline Rosenthal scored with 2:21 left in the third period to cap a 4-0 USC run that stretched over halftime to give the Women of Troy a 6-3 lead.

But the Cardinal responded with two goals to cut the lead to one heading into the final period.

Sophomore two-meter Colleen O’Donnell struck to give USC a 7-5 lead, but Stanford quickly knocked in a pair of goals once again to tie it up at 7-7 with 5:49 left.

Both defenses held strong for the rest of regulation, forcing overtime in Palo Alto.

Stanford came out swinging in the extra period, putting in two goals in the first minute for a 9-7 lead.

Rosenthal scored her third goal of the match with just over three minutes left, but USC couldn’t convert again and fell 9-8 to the host Cardinal.

It was the second time the Women of Troy lost by one goal to the Cardinal in their home pool this season- they lost 8-7 to them in the Stanford Invitational in a non-conference match back on February 4.

USC has now lost six in a row to Stanford, but the Women of Troy may have a chance to exact revenge on the Cardinal in the MPSF tournament.

The Women of Troy’s first match of the weekend was a different story, as they never trailed against San Jose State (14-10, 2-5) in an 8-5 victory.

USC also defeated the Spartans 14-6 in its season opener, and now holds a 25-0 all-time record against San Jose State.

Sophomore two-meter Kaleigh Gilchrist led the Women of Troy with two goals, and sophomore goalie Flora Bolonyai recorded 10 saves for a .667 save percentage.

The Women of Troy now have nearly two weeks off before wrapping up the regular season with a home nonconference match against CSU-Bakersfield on April 20 at 5 p.m.