No. 1 Stanford visits USC in rare Coliseum matchup

In a season where hopes have been beaten and battered by injuries, long overtime periods and missed opportunities, the USC women’s soccer team is still holding out hope for redemption this weekend in the form of a potential massive upset.

USC (5-8-3, 2-4-2) hosts No. 1 Stanford (14-1-1, 8-0-0), the defending NCAA champions, on Friday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the team’s biggest match of the season.

If they lose any of their final three matches, all of which are against ranked rivals, the Women of Troy will have essentially no shot at qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

But if they win all three, starting with Friday’s critical showdown against the Cardinal, USC has a chance to earn a berth after missing out last year.

“We’d have to win out, then sit and wait on selection day,” USC coach Ali Khosroshahin said. “[We have to] minimize our errors; if we do that, I think we can compete against anybody in the country.”

USC will have to avoid the defensive miscues that have plagued the squad all season if it wants to keep pace with the top-ranked team in the country. The Women of Troy are ranked as the worst defense in the conference with a 1.94 goals-against average.

“[It’s been] disappointing, especially the way a lot of those results have happened off of our own mistakes,” Khosroshahin said. “Like I’ve been saying all year, the biggest opponent we’ve played all year is ourselves.”

The Cardinal, meanwhile, is the highest-scoring team in the Pac-12 by a wide margin, averaging 2.81 goals per game.

“[Stanford] just has great chemistry -— they do whatever it takes to get the job done,” junior midfielder Jordan Marada said. “Everyone just needs to be mentally focused the whole game and come out strong and do what they need to do. We need to finish our chances.”

Unfortunately, converting on opportunities has been a problem for USC all season. The Women of Troy are third in the Pac-12 with 17.62 shots per game, but sixth in goals per game (1.50).

“A lot of it just comes down to us having composure in front of the goal and just putting it in the back of the net,” junior midfielder Elizabeth Eddy said. “If we play really good team defense and make sure we stick to the game plan, we’ll be all right.”

After the hyped matchup against Stanford on Friday, USC hosts another ranked foe in No. 21 California (14-3-0, 7-1-0) at McAlister Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Golden Bears stand second in the Pac-12 in goals per game (2.47) behind Stanford, and boast the conference’s top point scorer in forward Ifeoma Onumonu, who has 10 goals and five assists.

But it’s obvious that until the Cardinal exit the Coliseum on Friday night, the Women of Troy are only focusing on their first opponent of the weekend.

“We’re stoked, and can’t wait to get in the Coliseum,” Eddy said. “It’s a great atmosphere to play in. For me, it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a child, so it’s really cool and I’m really excited.”

The players have been making announcements in their classes to encourage classmates to attend the showdown, changing their Facebook profile pictures to a flyer advertising the match and the team’s Facebook page created a “Coliseum Classic” event to raise awareness about the match.

“A lot of people support [the team] if they know about it,” Eddy said. “That’s my goal, to get more awareness.”

Even though the odds are stacked against them, Khosroshahin said the Women of Troy insist they can turn their season around.

“Spirits are high right now,” he said. “We get a chance to play against one of the best teams in the country and see what we’re capable of.”

USC kicks off against Stanford at the Coliseum at 7 p.m., and the first 2,500 fans to enter the gates receive a free drawstring bag.