No. 21 lacrosse battles familiar foes
After facing UC Berkeley and Stanford last week, USC will host the same two teams at McAlister Field this week. The Trojans will face the Golden Bears Friday ahead of a rematch against the Cardinal Sunday.
Throughout the season, the Trojans have prided themselves on their stalwart defense. The Trojans are currently No. 11 in scoring defense in the nation, and are the highest-ranked team on the West Coast in the IWLCA Division I Poll.
“It’s a really veteran unit,” said Head Coach Lindsey Munday in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “[Senior defender] Danielle Carson has been back there for a long time with [senior defender] Olivia Dooley … They take a lot of pride in what they do.”
Dooley has a team-leading 27-caused turnovers on the season. Meanwhile, Carson is tied with sophomore defender Alexis Niblock for a team-high 24 groundballs.
“Trusting each other and knowing that we’re the greatest when we have each other’s backs has really been critical for us,” Dooley said.
Last week, the Trojan defense allowed six goals against Cal before surrendering a season-high 15 against Stanford. The Trojans give up an average of 8.67 goals per game.
Both Cal and Stanford won over USC in the draw circle. The Golden Bears won 14 of 21 draw controls, while the Cardinal won 25 of 31.
In draw control percentage, the Trojans rank outside the top 50 in Division I Lacrosse. Twelve different players have recorded at least one draw control throughout the season.
“We want to continue to get better each and every day,” Munday said. “After games, you really look and assess what went well, but also assess what we need to improve upon. So nothing changes, even facing the same opponent.”
In the cage, junior goalie Kait Devir is 21st in the nation with a .485 save percentage, the highest of any eligible goalkeeper in the Pac-12.
On offense, junior attacker Maggie Brown leads the Trojans with 26 goals despite starting in only five of the Trojan’s 11 games this season. Brown had five goals in her team’s loss against Stanford last Sunday.
Aside from Brown, four players have 20 goals or more on the season. The Trojans average 12.83 goals per game, good for 37th in the nation.
“Knowing our tendencies and what we like to do really bonds us as a unit, and I think that’s something that we really focus on,” said senior attacker Ella Heaney.
Heaney and the Trojans will first face Cal Friday. The Golden Bears are 3-8 overall and 1-4 in the Pac-12. USC has won 15 straight games against Cal, its longest active win streak against a single team.
Cal’s 10.27 goals per game puts them last in the Pac-12. Senior midfielder Maya Lawliss leads the Golden Bears with 23 goals.
Next, the Trojans will look for revenge against Stanford. In the preseason poll, USC was projected to finish second, while Stanford was projected to finish first. Currently, the Trojans are in a three-way tie for first place with Colorado and Stanford.
The Cardinal are tied for 15th in the nation with 14.73 goals per game. Sophomore midfielder Annabel Frist’s 35 goals lead the team. The Nashville native is top-25 in the country in goals per game.
USC’s loss against Stanford was just the Trojans’ 18th defeat against an unranked opponent in program history.
“[We’ve been] learning from the past two games, watching a lot of film, learning from our mistakes and that will propel us to move forward this weekend and learn from what we can do better,” Heaney said.
The Trojans will return to McAlister for their final homestand of the regular season with matches against Cal Friday at 3 p.m. and Stanford Sunday at noon.