No. 25 USC Women's Soccer Continues Big Ten Play at Purdue, Indiana

THIS WEEK - The No. 25 USC women's soccer team continues Big Ten play on the road this week, heading to Purdue on Thursday, followed by a match at Indiana on Sunday. Thursday's game will kick off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and Sunday's match will kick off at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.

HOW TO FOLLOW - Thursday's game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and Sunday's contest will be on BTN+. Links for the broadcasts and live stats can be found on the women's soccer schedule page at USCTrojans.com. In-game updates will also be available on X (formerly 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, @uscwomenssoccer on Tik Tok @USC_Wsoccer on X, and like USC Women's Soccer on Facebook.

B1G SEASON - USC is playing in its first season as a member of the Big Ten Conference. USC announced in June of 2022 that the school would be making a move to the Big Ten. UCLA, Washington and Oregon also announced they would be moving to the conference with the Trojans. USC women's soccer's conference opener against Washington on Sept. 12 will be the first Big Ten game for any of the school's programs.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS PURDUE - Purdue and USC have met each of the last two seasons, once in West Lafayette ('22) and last season at USC. These meetings were split with USC winning at home last year (4-0) and Purdue taking the match in 2022 (3-0). Overall, the Trojans lead the series 3-1, dating back to their first matchup in 2010.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS INDIANA - This will be the 3rd time the Trojans face off against the Hoosiers, with the all-time series tied 1-1. The previous two meetings were split with USC winning the first matchup (6-0) in 2005 and Indiana taking the second matchup 2-1 (OT) in 2007.

RPI RANKING: The first RPI rankings of the season were released this week and the Trojans checked in at No. 8 after going 5-1-1 on the road through the early part of the season. USC is one of four Big Ten teams in the Top 8, with Michigan State No. 1, Ohio State No. 5 and Penn State No. 6. USC's lone loss it to Stanford, who checks in at No. 7 on the RPI list.

COACHES POLL - The Trojans returned to the Top 25 this week, checking in at No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. USC started the season ranked No. 23, but fell out of the polls after a draw in their opener. Since then, USC's only loss has been to No. 1 Stanford.

B1G OPENER AT WASHINGTON - The Trojans picked up their first Big Ten win over a familiar foe on Thursday night, with a 1-0 victory over Washington. Helena Sampaio gave USC the lead in the 21st minute, grabbing a failed clearance and depositing it in the back of the net for her first goal of the year. USC would take that 1-0 lead into the break and the defense made it stand up the rest of the way. Goalkeeper Laurence Gladu picked up her 3rd shutout of the year, making five total saves.

FLORES/JOURDE AT U20 WC - Maribel Flores and Florianne Jourde started the season at the FIFA U20 World Cup in Colombia this year, with Flores competing with Mexico and Jourde with Canada. Both players helped lead their teams to the knockout rounds, but were ousted in the Round of 16. Flores and Jourde each started all 4 games, and Jourde notched a goal against Spain in her final game. Flores has previously competed in the 2022 U17 World Cup with Mexico and with the Mexican U20 side in the 2023 CONCACAF Championship. Jourde has been a part of both U17 and U20 sides with Canada, including competing in the last U20 World Cup in 2022. The Montreal native was also named to the CONCACAF Best XI in 2022.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

Maile Hayes, who transferred from Texas A&M this offseason, leads USC with 7 points, scoring 3 goals and posting 1 assist in 7 games as a Trojan.
Freshman Faith George is second on the team with 5 total points, scoring once and providing 3 assists in her first 7 collegiate games.
Maria Alagoa became the 3rd player to score multiple goals this season for the Trojans. She scored her first goal of the season against New Mexico State and her second against USF two weeks ago. Alagoa, who is also a member of the Portuguese National Team, joined the women's soccer program this offseason after transferring from Florida State.
Kayla Colbert, USC's points leader last season, got on the board with her first goal of the season at Portland on Aug. 31 and followed it up with a goal against USF the very next game. Colbert had 6 goals and 6 assists last year.
Helena Sampaio scored her first goal of the season last week against Washington. The Senior looks to build from her 15 point (6 goals) season her junior year.
Goalie, Laurence Gladu, is the only Trojan to play all 630 minutes so far this season. Molly McDougal leads the way for field players with 609 minutes played.
USC's 12 goals have been scored by 6 different players. The Trojans also have points from 9 different players.
USC has outshot 4 of their 7 opponents and on the year has outshot opponents by a total of 90-65.

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Players Mentioned

Maria Alagoa

Kayla Colbert

Maribel Flores

Faith George

Laurence Gladu

Maile Hayes

Florianne Jourde

Molly McDougal

Helena Sampaio