Change. That’s the word to define the USC lacrosse team’s upcoming season. With an amalgamation of adjustments — moving from the Pacific-12 to the Big Ten, introducing 12 new players and welcoming two assistant coaches — the Trojans are hoping their season will evolve and grow along with these fluctuations.

“We have to be ready. We want to make our mark on the Big Ten in year one,” said Head Coach Lindsey Munday in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We’re doing everything we can to get ready to show up and compete.”

A crucial part of preparation every lacrosse season is fall ball, during which lacrosse plays warm-up friendlies across the country. On top of their matchups against Navy and Georgetown over the weekend, the Trojans have also faced opponents such as Arizona State, San Diego State and even Keio University out of Tokyo, Japan, this fall.

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“I think we’re in a really solid place with the team and where we want to be,” Munday said. “We have a lot of room to grow, but it starts with the intensity and the effort, which I think is probably at a higher level for us than where we were probably a year ago today.”

With the transfer from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, an oft-discussed talking point is the increase in travel, especially for newly added West Coast teams.

However, for lacrosse, travel to the East Coast was already a norm, taking on opponents like Johns Hopkins University, Villanova and Army on the road last year. While the Trojans may be used to time away from home, the Big Ten still remains chock full of high-skilled opponents.

“We had to travel to the East Coast when we were in the [Pac-12], so our travel doesn’t change too much, which is nice. We’re kind of used to it,” Munday said. “I think the Big Ten is one of the best, if not the best, lacrosse conferences out there, so we are thrilled to be a part of it. I think we need to [have the mindset] that every Big Ten game is a big game.”

With the introduction of new opponents and new faces on the team itself, the veteran players on the squad have become integral to overall team chemistry.

“Our older players have shown a ton of leadership, bringing in the new players right away,” Munday said. “Even things as simple as being there for move-in day for the freshmen, just kind of creating that team family environment from day one to allow the younger players to really bring out their personalities and to bring out their energy and intensity to the team right away.”

The Trojans will also hope to get some new perspectives from their two new assistant coaches, Jill Rizzo, a former coach at Marquette University, and Cassidy Spilis, a three-time Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association All-American at Rutgers.

Rizzo, who is specializing as USC’s defensive coordinator, helped lead Marquette to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2023, finishing with a 15-4 record. In her collegiate career, Rizzo played for Ohio State as a goalie, still the program’s all-time leader in saves with 777.

Her experience at Ohio State, playing for the Buckeyes as recently as 2021, will be an extremely useful skill as Munday’s squad looks to adapt to the Big Ten.

On that same note, Spilis just finished off her collegiate athletic career at Big Ten university Rutgers, also bringing important firsthand experience with the caliber and intensity of the Trojans’ conference. Spilis, who will specialize with the midfield and draw units, concluded her college career as the program’s all-time leading goalscorer.

A combination of new and old definitely describes lacrosse’s coaching staff this season, as Munday enters her 12th season coaching the Trojans. Munday, who was named the United States Women’s Sixes National Team head coach until 2026 and led USC to the Pac-12 Championship in 2023, hopes the coaching staff’s balance of experience and first-hand insight into the Big Ten will allow the Trojans to repeat the triumph in their new conference.

Looking ahead to the regular season, lacrosse will have its first official matchup against former Pac-12 rival Stanford. The Trojans and Cardinal have finished either first or second in the conference in each season since 2020. Now, even though the schools have changed conferences, the rivalry continues.

“Opening game, we play Stanford, which has always been a big rival of ours,” Munday said. “I think that’s really the game we’re looking forward to right now. We got to take it one game at a time.”

As lacrosse shifts from fall ball to its official preseason, the team wants to grow into its newfound place within collegiate athletics while also staying steady in its preparations.

“The biggest thing is just continuing to be consistent. We’ve seen this group do amazing things, both in practice and in fall ball competition,” Munday said. “We’ve had some of our younger players step up and really kind of showcase their abilities. But I think just being as consistent as possible — that’s the biggest focus going into this later part of the fall and into preseason.”