USC Starts NCAA Tour In South Bend

USC faces Illinois in the NCAA First Round on Friday.

USC Starts NCAA Tour In South Bend

November 09, 2010 | Women's Soccer

Nov. 9, 2010

THIS WEEK
The USC women's soccer team is all set to be shipped off to South Bend, Ind., for the Trojans' sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Women of Troy have earned an at-large berth in this year's postseason action after a third-place finish in the Pac-10 and holding a 12-5-3 overall record. USC will open up with a first-round clash against Illinois (13-4-1) at 5 p.m. ET on Friday (Nov. 12) for a shot at the second round against either No. 4 seeded host Notre Dame (15-2-2) or New Mexico (12-2-5) on Sunday (Nov. 14) at 1 p.m. ET.

FOLLOW ALONG
Host Notre Dame will be providing live stats through GameTracker for all three games in South Bend, Ind., and will provide live video of any game in which Notre Dame plays. Click the GameTracker link on the USC soccer schedule page at usctrojans.com for live stats.

RANKINGS
USC opened 2010 as the nation's No. 19 ranked team in the NSCAA preseason poll and No. 20 in the Soccer America preseason poll. With their opening loss, however, the Trojans slipped out of the rankings, but they moved back up in the rankings on Sept. 13. USC now weighs in at No. 22 in the final NSCAA and Soccer Times polls, and is unranked in Soccer America and listed at No. 21 in the TopDrawer rankings this week. In the final NSCAA poll, Notre Dame is ranked No. 7, Illinois is No. 13, and New Mexico is receiving votes.

USC IN NCAA ACTION:

1998    1st Round   def. Washington 2-1 (OT)    2nd Round   lost to San Diego State 1-0 (OT)1999    1st Round   bye    2nd Round   lost to SMU 1-02000    1st Round   def. San Diego 2-1    2nd Round   lost to UCLA 3-02001    1st Round   lost to Pepperdine 1-02002    1st Round   def. San Diego 1-0 (OT)    2nd Round   lost to UCLA 1-0 (OT)2003    1st Round   lost to Pepperdine 1-02005    1st Round   def. Gonzaga 1-0    2nd Round   lost to Cal State Fullerton 3-12006    1st Round   def. Santa Clara 1-0    2nd Round   lost to Stanford 2-02007    1st Round   def. Creighton 3-0    2nd Round   def. Missouri 1-0 (2OT)    3rd Round   def. Florida 1-0    Quarterfinals   def. West Virginia 1-0    Semifinals  def. UCLA 2-1    Championship    def. Florida State 2-02008    1st Round   def. Boston Univ. 2-0    2nd Round   tied BYU 1-1 (advance on penalty kicks, 4-2)    3rd Round   lost to UCLA 1-02009    1st Round   tied Oklahoma State (failed to advance on penalty kicks, 4-5)

NCAA NOTES
This is USC's sixth consecutive NCAA appearance and 12th overall trip to the NCAA Tournament, in which the Trojans are now 12-10-1 overall after USC's 2007 run to the NCAA Championship and an appearance in the NCAA First Round last season. USC's 2007 national championship was the first-ever in program history, and the Trojans are the first and only Pac-10 school to win a women's soccer NCAA title. Before claiming the 2007 NCAA crown, USC had yet to break through the NCAA Second Round. Last season, USC was edged out of the postseason in a penalty kick shootout against Oklahoma State. This year, USC has come up against 11 of the teams now bound for the postseason, holding a 5-5-2 record against that group. During the 2010 regular season, USC beat UCLA, Auburn, Oklahoma, Washington and California, tied with UNC Greensboro and Texas, and lost to Stanford, Arizona State, Oregon State once each and twice to San Diego.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR
USC picked up an at-large berth into the 2009 NCAA Tournament, entering the postseason ranked No. 22 in the NSCAA poll. Playing in Santa Clara, Calif., the Trojans faced Oklahoma State for the second time during the season. The Trojans and the Cowgirls were scoreless through regulation and overtime, and USC finished short on penalty kicks, falling 4-5 to close out the year with an NCAA First Round exit and a 12-6-3 overall record.

TAKING THE 2007 TITLE
In 2007, USC earned its highest ever seeding in the Tournament -- coming off a regular season that also saw the Trojans in their highest national rankings in program history. USC worked its way to a No. 2 seed thanks to a strong regular-season showing in which USC took a 14-3-2 overall record into the 2007 NCAA Tournament before emerging with five more shutouts, a program-record 20-3-2 overall record and the 2007 national championship.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS
The Fighting Illini are 13-4-1 overall after finishing 6-3-1 in the Big Ten. This is Illinois' ninth NCAA appearance, last reaching the 2008 NCAA Third Round, where the Fighting Illini fell 3-0 to eventual champion North Carolina. Overall, Illinois is 9-8-1 all-time in NCAA action. Vanessa DiBernardo leads Illinois in scoring with 11 goals, and goalkeeper Alexandra Kapicka has 63 saves and 12 goals against in her 18 appearances. Janet Rayfield is in her ninth season as head coach of the Fighting Illini, leading them to six NCAA Tournaments in her tenure, with Illinois' best finish standing as a trip to the 2004 NCAA Quarterfinals. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Trojans and the Fighting Illini.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish picked up the No. 4 seed in the North Carolina Region as an at-large selection, bringing in a 15-2-2 overall record after winning the Big East National Division with a 9-0-2 record. This is Notre Dame's 18th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Fighting Irish made their fourth consecutive NCAA College Cup appearance and fifth in six years, riding a 19-match unbeaten streak all the way to the national semifinals before North Carolina's late score led to a 1-0 win over Notre Dame. Melissa Henderson leads Notre Dame in scoring with 14 goals, and goalkeeper Nikki Weiss holds 67 saves and 11 goals against in 19 appearances. Randy Waldrum is in his 12th season as head coach at Notre Dame, having led the Fighting Irish to seven NCAA College Cups, four NCAA title game appearances and the 2004 national championship during his first 11 seasons. USC and Notre Dame have faced only once before in program history. In 2006, the Fighting Irish beat USC 2-0 in South Bend.

SCOUTING NEW MEXICO
The Lobos are making their first-ever NCAA appearance, bringing a 12-2-5 overall record into their first-round match with Notre Dame. New Mexico won the Mountain West regular season title with a 5-0-2 overall record before falling to BYU in the tournament final. Jennifer Williams leads the Lobos in scoring with eight goals and seven assists, and goalkeeper Kelli Cornell holds 79 saves while allowing only eight goals in her 19 appearances. Kit Vela was named MWC Coach of the Year in her 10th season as head coach of the Lobos. USC and New Mexico have faced only once before in program history. Back in 1993, New Mexico beat USC 2-1 in a game held at Cal Tech.

LAST WEEK
USC wrapped up the regular season with a road split, stalling out in a Friday game at Arizona State and taking a 3-0 loss before bouncing back with a 5-0 shutout of Arizona two days later. Five different players scored -- all in the first half -- in the win over the Wildcats. Courtney Garcia and Alyssa Dávila scored in the first five minutes of play for an early lead, and the Trojans kept rolling en route to their seventh shutout of the year. Garcia's goal would stand as the game-winner - the sophomore's first of the year - while Dávila's goal lifted the senior to hold the seventh-most career goals in USC history with her 23rd goal. Also boosting her career stats on the day was redshirt junior Ashli Sandoval, who served up the assist on Garcia's game-winner with 2:26 ticks on the clock for Sandoval's 23rd career assist to move up to No. 10 in all-time points in the Trojan history books. Freshman goalkeeper Shelby Church had a career-high seven saves in the shutout at Arizona.

WINNING WEEKEND
Karter Haug became USC's only player this season to be named the Pac-10 Player of the Week -- also the senior's first such honor -- after finishing out her final weekend on USC's home field with three assists and the first game-winning goal of her career. She scored in the 83rd minute against Washington State to get USC a comeback win over the Cougars, and then turned around and assisted on the game-winner and another goal for the Trojans in a shutout against Washington on Senior Day at USC. That weekend's effort made it three straight games that the senior defender had a role in USC's game-winning goals (assist vs. UCLA, winner vs. WSU, assist vs. Washington).

INJURY REPORT
USC has now lost two players for the season due to knee injuries. Junior defender Chelsea Buehning suffered an ACL tear in USC's season opener on Aug. 20 to leave her sidelined for the year. Redshirt freshman Morgan Morrow stepped into that defensive role after being sidelined last season after knee surgery from an injury sustained before coming to USC. Morrow, however, suffered her second ACL tear --- this one in her opposite knee -- last week in USC's Oct. 27 game, taking the defender out of the lineup for the remainder of the season as she awaits surgery to repair her knee.

CROWDED COLISEUM
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Coliseum to become a part of history! The crowd of 8,527 fans at the Oct. 22 USC vs. UCLA game broke the NCAA attendance record for a regular-season game, and surpassed the count from the last Trojan-Bruin clash at the Coliseum. The last time USC and UCLA faced in the Coliseum in 2008, a crowd of 7,204 was in attendance, then ranking No. 2 in the NCAA record books for a regular-season women's soccer game behind a 2006 crowd of 8,204 in College Station, Texas, for a Texas A&M-North Carolina match. Friday night's crowd of 8,527 eclipsed that top mark, and put the Trojans and the Bruins on a historic stage for this year's Pac-10 showdown. With the new NCAA regular-season attendance record in hand, the Women of Troy topped it all off in the 86th minute of play with the game-winning goal from Autumn Altamirano for a 1-0 victory. That lifted USC to its first regular-season win over UCLA since 1998, thanks in large part to a stubborn Trojan defense. Senior defender Karter Haug set up the winning goal with a long lofted pass to Altamirano for Haug's third assist of the season.

SPREAD OFFENSE
USC is not making it easy for opponents to key in on a specific scoring threat on the front lines this season. In USC's 12 wins to date, 10 different Trojans have provided the game-winning goal, with Ashli Sandoval and Autumn Altamirano holding a pair apiece. A whopping 13 different players have scored so far, and no one had more than three goals total until Elizabeth Eddy busted ahead of the pack with a hat trick against Cal on Oct. 10. Eddy, Altamirano and Sandoval each have scored a team-high five goals to date, followed by three apiece for Haley Boysen, Courtney Garcia and Samantha Johnson. Eddy's five goals and three assists were all tallied within a span of five games.

SANDOVAL STRIKES BACK
In her first game action in almost a year since suffering a torn ACL last season, redshirt junior midfielder Ashli Sandoval scored in back-to-back games upon returning to the field during USC's road trip through Texas. Sandoval came through with the game-winner at TCU in her 2010 debut, and against Texas, she provided heroics once again in scoring the equalizer in the 87th minute to lock up the Longhorns 1-1. She sustained an ankle injury following the game-tying strike, however, and was sidelined for USC's next two games in Fullerton, Calif. The midfielder returned to game action on Sept. 10 vs. Auburn, and saw limited time soon after when she reaggravated her ankle, but played again on Sept. 26 at Eastern Washington. With two assists, two game-winners, and two more goals since, Sandoval has made more movement in the USC record books, as she holds a team-high five goals and recently cracked the top-10 in career points (Sandoval now holds 49), and also now boasts 23 career assists to sit two away from No. 3 all-time.

FRESH START
Five freshmen started USC's first game of the year, and it's been a similar story ever since. Freshman goalkeeper Shelby Church has played every minute to date for the Trojans in goal. All told, six freshmen have appeared in the starting lineup, including redshirt freshman Morgan Morrow's starting debut on Sept. 3 after being sidelined last year with a knee injury. All five freshman field players have tallied either a goal or an assist for the Trojans. Haley Boysen was the first of the group to score with an overtime game-winner vs. Auburn, but Mia Bruno, Autumn Altamirano and Elizabeth Eddy weren't far behind, while Morrow also is in the books with an assist. Together, the group has amassed 15 goals and eight assists.

CHAMPIONSHIP CORE
Four players remain from the Trojans' 2007 NCAA Championship team, providing an anchor of talent and experience around which Khosroshahin has built a powerhouse of potential for the season to come. In breaking down the 2010 Trojan roster, there is a clear balance of power. Seniors Alyssa Dávila, Megan Ohai and Karter Haug offer up winning experience from front to back, with star midfielder Ashli Sandoval returning as a redshirt junior after being sidelined last year by knee injury. Together, the foursome boasts a national championship as well as a wealth of experience to anchor this year's lineup. Dávila and Ohai headline the front lines, with Sandoval shining in the middle and Haug in command of the defense. Already, the group has produced for the Women of Troy. Dávila has notched her 12th career game-winning goal to stand at No. 2 all-time at USC; Sandoval scored in her first two games back on the turf and ranks No. 4 all-time with 23 career assists; Ohai has a hold on No. 8 all-time in career goals (16) and is No. 6 in career game-winning goals (7) after her winner vs. Purdue; and Haug has served up a team-high six assists and scored two goals so far.

CHURCH'S STATEMENT
After getting her first career shutout under her belt with a 1-0 win at TCU on August 27, USC's freshman goalkeeper Shelby Church delivered another powerful statement in the very next game. Faced with a penalty kick that threatened to put USC down two goals in the first half at Texas, Church made a clutch save against the PK to keep the Trojans within reach, and USC would equalize late in the game. Church also helped secure a run of three straight shutouts for the Trojan defense, and she currently holds seven shutouts, 74 saves and 20 goals against to kick off her career as a Trojan.

YEAR TEN
USC head coach Ali Khosroshahin is in his 10th season of collegiate head coaching. It's a milestone that he admits came faster than he expected, but there's no doubt that he has squeezed a lot of shining moments into his first decade. In his three seasons at the helm of the Women of Troy, he's continued his streak of NCAA appearances (2005 and 2006 at Cal State Fullerton; 2007-present at USC) and picked up a national championship along the way. Khosroshahin and the Trojans won the 2007 NCAA title in his first season at Troy, making USC the first Pac-10 school to ever win a women's soccer national championship. The 2007 National Coach of the Year, Khosroshahin totes a 48-14-7 (.746) overall record at USC and 124-54-13 (.683) career record into this final season of his first decade of collegiate coaching.

BACK ON THE ATTACK
Over half of USC's goals last season came from the feet of returning strikers Alyssa Dávila, Sam Johnson and Megan Ohai. Seniors Dávila and Ohai are already locked into the USC record books for career scoring totals, and the pair are poised to climb even higher this year. Now a sophomore, Johnson's firepower is no secret, but the strong forward is in even better position to pack a punch at the top for USC this year along with Dávila and Ohai. Including those two senior strikers and sophomore Johnson, the Trojans return all but one goal scorer from last year. Dávila led them all with nine goals, heading up a group of 10 players to get to the back of the net. Nine of those remain, hauling back a good 87 percent of the Trojan scoring load to the pitch for 2010.