USC falls in third round of NCAA Tourney
Postseason success · Junior defender Kayla Mills and the Women of Troy became just the third USC team to make the NCAA Sweet 16. – Matthew Park | Daily Trojan
The women’s soccer team saw its season come to a conclusion on Sunday after a 2-0 loss to Virginia in the Sweet 16 of NCAA Tournament.
The team traveled to Charlottesville to first take on Princeton in a second-round matchup Friday, meaning there was no guarantee of playing Sunday. USC defeated Princeton 3-0 and dominated the Tigers in every phase of the game.
USC put in a complete performance against the Ivy League champs: three goals, a clean sheet and the lion’s share of the possession.
Sydney Sladek opened the scoring on 12 minutes, and USC never looked back. Morgan Andrews bagged a double, sealing a 3-0 win and a Sweet 16 berth.
The win meant the Women of Troy were on to the Round of 16 for the third time in program history. Sunday’s fixture, however, brought a whole new set of challenges.
Virginia is the No. 1 team in the land and thus had the privilege of playing USC on home turf. The Women of Troy were riding a wave of momentum heading into the game, but so too were the Cavaliers.
In a competitive match with plenty of defense, USC had some impressive spells of possession and managed to put the top-ranked Cavaliers on their heels for much of the afternoon.
Virginia forward Makenzy Doniak, a California native, scored on the stroke of halftime to give the home side the lead heading into the break. The Women of Troy ensured that UVA did not seize the momentum in the second half, though, as they knocked the ball around nicely and kept Doniak and company quiet.
The USC defense stood tall, defending set pieces well and getting yet another strong performance out of goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme.
After excellent buildup play, however, Virginia’s Alexis Shaffer received the ball at the top of the box and hit a lovely curler past Prudhomme. It was an inch-perfect strike from the midfielder, and for USC, it signified the end of the season.
With that said, the Women of Troy restricted UVA’s explosive players and could certainly have walked away from Charlottesville with the win. USC challenged Virginia netminder Morgan Stearns on a handful of occasions, including early on when junior midfielder Morgan Andrews let one rip from outside the area but sent the shot high.
“We try to get those shots off as early and as often as we can,” Andrews said.
In fact, the Women of Troy fired 45 shots in the first two tourney games combined. Virginia’s talented defense limited USC’s shot total on Sunday to just 10, a meager number by USC’s lofty standards.
Andrews and fellow midfielders Mandy Freeman and Nicole Molen were a handful for UVA, as were the wingers for the Women of Troy like Savannah Levin, Reilly Parker and Sydney Sladek.
From the outset, USC matched UVA’s speed and technical ability.
The Cavaliers’ midfielders also found themselves chasing whenever USC’s midfield trio got the possession game going.
This really was a championship caliber match that just happened to take place in the third round.
Though the loss to Virginia was agonizing for USC players and fans, the Women of Troy enjoyed a terrific season, posting a 16-6-1 record and not losing a single game on their home turf. Next season, head coach Keidane McAlpine returns a talented core group of players, including Andrews and junior defender Kayla Mills, who hope to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.