No. 15 USC Women's Soccer Heads to Utah, Colorado

LOS ANGELES - The No. 15 USC women's soccer team stays on the road this week as they look to stay atop the Pac-12 standings with games at Utah on Thursday and Colorado on Sunday.

HOW TO FOLLOW - Both games will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. Links for the broadcast and live stats can be found on the women's soccer schedule page at USCTrojans.com. In-game updates will also be available on Twitter by following @USC_Wsoccer.

SOCIAL MEDIA - Keep up with everything USC women's soccer this year by following the Trojans on all of their social media platforms. You can follow @USCWsoccer on Instagram and @USC_Wsoccer on Twitter, and like USC Women's Soccer on Facebook.

SERIES VS UTAH - USC owns a 9-3-3 record all-time against the Utes. The Trojans won the meeting between the teams last season 7-0 at home. Despite USC's lead in the series and lopsided win in 2021, the matchups between the sides over the last five years have been real battles. In 2017 and 2018 the teams fought to scoreless draws, in 2019 USC picked up a 2-1 win in overtime at home and in 2020/21, Utah took down the Trojans 2-0 at home. USC is 1-3-3 all-time in Utah.

SERIES VS COLORADO - USC owns a 9-4-0 record all-time against the Buffaloes. The teams have split the last two meetings, with USC winning 4-1 at home last year and Colorado winning 3-2 in overtime in Boulder the season before that. Prior to Colorado's in in 2020/21, however, the Trojans had won five straight against the Buffs dating back to 2015.

LAST WEEK - The Trojans played one match on the road last week, taking down No. 19 California, 2-0. Kayla Colbert scored the opening goal of the game and provided an assist to Simone Jackson on the second. USC is now 3-0 against ranked opposition this season, with wins over No. 19 Stanford and No. 6 TCU as well.

PAC-12 RACE - The Trojans (5-1) currently sit in a three-way tie for first in the Pac-12 standings with UCLA and Stanford. USC owns the tie-breaker against Stanford with a win over the Cardinal earlier this year, and has yet to play UCLA, with those two teams set to face off on the final day of the season.

COLBERT PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Kayla Colbert earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors after her goal and assist against Cal on Friday afternoon. Colbert scored from 25 yards out on the opening goal then provided an assist from midfield for Simone Jackson on the second goal of the game. It was the first weekly award for Colbert and the fourth of the season for USC. In just five games played this season, Colbert has three goals and four assists, good for 10 total points which is third on the team.

PAC-12 WEEKLY AWARDS -
9/12 - Simone Jackson (offensive)
9/26 - Nicole Payne (offensive)
10/3 - Croix Bethune (offensive)
10/17 - Kayla Colbert (offensive)

IN THE RANKINGS - After starting the season at No. 15 in the rankings, the Trojans fell out following an opening-day loss at Purdue. Four weeks ago USC jumped back into the ranking at No. 20, then moved up to No. 8 before falling to No. 18 and finally settling at No. 15 this week.

BALANCED ATTACK - USC has had eight different goal scorers so far this season, with six different players posting multiple goals through 11 games. 12 different USC players have recorded at least a point this season and 10 Trojans have posted at least one assist.

AWUJO/BURNS CALLED UP - Simi Awujo and Zoe Burns were both recently called up by the Canadian National Team for a pair of friendlies in Spain on Oct. 6 & 10. Awujo played in both matches as a substitute and Burns appeared in the Oct. 10 friendly as a sub. Canada beat Argentina 2-0 and Morocco 4-0.

STAT RANKINGS -
Assists - Bethune (8) - 1st Pac-12/11th NCAA
Assists - Sampaio (6) - 2nd Pac-12/44th NCAA
Assists/G - Bethune (0.73) - 1st Pac-12/4th NCAA
Assists/G - Sampaio (0.50) - 2nd Pac-12/22nd NCAA
Goals - Bethune (7) - 9th Pac-12
Goals/G - Bethune (0.64) - 5th P12/34th NCAA
Goals/G - Jackson (0.50) - 11th P12
Points - Bethune (22) - 3rd Pac-12/28th NCAA
Points/G - Bethune (2.0) - 1st Pac-12/7th NCAA
Points/G - Jackson (1.20) - 10th P12
Save% - Smith (0.826) - 2nd Pac-12
GAA - Smith (0.705) - 3rd Pac-12
Shutouts - Smith (4) - 3rd Pac-12

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Players Mentioned

Simi Awujo

Croix Bethune

Zoe Burns

Kayla Colbert

Simone Jackson

Nicole Payne