No. 20 USC Lacrosse Finishes Out the Regular Season in the Desert

LOS ANGELES - The 20th-ranked USC lacrosse program (13-3, 8-1) finishes the regular season with one last conference bout against Arizona State (5-11, 3-6) in a game that will decide who is the sole heir to the Pac-12 throne. The Trojans will take on the struggling Sun Devils squad on their senior day, as USC is one win away from claiming the Pac-12 regular-season trophy outright. This decisive game occurs at 3 p.m. MST Friday (Apr. 28) at the Sun Devil Soccer Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

Game #17 • Friday, Apr. 28 • 3 p.m. PT
No. 20 USC (13-3, 8-1 Pac-12) vs Arizona State (5-11, 3-6 Pac-12)
Sun Devil Soccer Stadium • Tempe, Ariz.
SERIES HISTORY: USC Leads 9-2 • STREAK: W1
LAST MEETING: W, 17-6 (Mar. 17 • McAlister Field)
LIVE STREAM: ASU Live Stream 2
OPPONENT WEB: thesundevils.com

CROSSExamination

The Trojans can claim the Pac-12 regular season title outright with a win against Arizona State. This would be their first outright title since 2019. USC was co-champions with Stanford in 2022.
The Trojans are 35-10 in conference road games (17-6 in Pac-12; 18-4 in MPSF).
The Trojans are 39-11 all-time in Pac-12 games, with a 16-3 record in the conference over the past two years.
USC is 109-18 all-time versus unranked opponents.
The Trojans' 2023 captains are graduate student midfielder Katie Ramsay, senior midfielder Sloane Murphy, senior defender Danielle Carson, and junior attacker Shelby Tilton.
Olivia Dooley is the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. The league's Defensive Player of the Year has come from USC two times since the award began being issued. Jackie Gilbert was chosen in 2019.
USC's defense has been a force this season, as it is ranked 8th in the NCAA for caused turnovers per game, Tied for 23rd for groundballs, defender Olivia Dooley ranks 5th in the NCAA for caused turnovers per game with 2.57 and goalie Kait Devir is 4th in the NCAA for goals against average with 7.9.
Emma Wightman claimed her third conference player weekly award on Apr. 18, and currently, the Women of Troy own seven of the 11 DPOW awards. Emma Wightman hit a major milestone (Apr. 9, vs. Stanford) with 100 career caused turnovers (74 at the University of Florida and 26 at USC).
The Trojans solidified their spot at the top of the conference, as they bested Colorado (W, 16-13) in a battle for first place, and then eclipsed Oregon (W, 10-5) to cement themselves with at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title.

With one more step left in the regular season, USC has almost everything wrapped up, as it will head into the Pac-12 tournament with the No. 1 seed guaranteed. However, there is one thing of unfinished business: the Trojans want to avoid sharing the regular season title with Stanford as they did last season. To do that, USC will face Arizona State, who has struggled thus far this season, and in the previous matchup between the two teams, USC held no prisoners with a 17-6 victory at home (Mar. 17). This time, the squad will hit the road, with all of their bumps and bruises healed, as they were given a week off before the regular season finished off.

To keep USC's impressive season intact, it will need help from its defense. So far, the defense has been spectacular, as it has forced the eighth most turnovers in the entire country, and goalie Kait Devir is fourth is goals allowed per game. That trend is a mainstay for the Trojans, as they hope to fend off the Pac-12 one more time in the regular season before setting their sights on the coveted Pac-12 tournament title.

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Players Mentioned

Danielle Carson

Kait Devir

Olivia Dooley

Sloane Murphy

Katie Ramsay

Shelby Tilton

Emma Wightman