Lopes face Trojans in NCAA 1st round

NCAA tournament first round | Saturday, Nov. 13 | 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Los Angeles, Calif. | Soni McAlister Stadium


Grand Canyon Lopes (16-3-2)	at	(3) USC Trojans (13-3-2)
Match notes	Live video Live stats

The Grand Canyon women's soccer team will face No. 3 seed USC in a historic first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament. It will be the first Division I NCAA tournament match for the Lopes, who took down Lamar and Utah Valley last weekend to clinch the WAC Tournament championship.

Saturday's game will be streamed live on the Pac-12.com.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

HISTORIC EIGHT DAYS: GCU defeated Utah Valley twice in an eight-day span to clinch the WAC West Division title and the WAC Tournament crown. On Oct. 30 at GCU Stadium, the Lopes defeated the Wolverines 6-2 before taking down Utah Valley again in the WAC Tournament final 3-0 to punch their ticket to the Big Dance. Junior Lindsey Prokop, fifth-year Camryn Larson and redshirt junior Dani Babb all scored in the championship match.
ALL-WAC TOURNAMENT AWARDS: The Lopes were well represented in the All-WAC Tournament honors. Prokop was named WAC Tournament MVP after scoring game-winning goals against Lamar and Utah Valley. Joining her on the All-WAC Tournament team were Larson, Babb, defender Hannah Edwards, forward Marleen Schimmer and goalkeeper Jordan Ferguson.
WAC IN THE BIG DANCE: On Saturday, the Lopes look to become the seventh WAC school to win a match in the NCAA tournament. Utah Valley defeated Memphis in the first round last season in a neutral-site match in North Carolina before losing 3-1 to Arkansas. WAC teams hold a 12-29 all-time record in the NCAA t.

SCOUTING
USC makes its 20th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and is ranked 11th in the nation while earning a No. 3 seed. The Trojans are coming off a loss to rival UCLA at the end of the regular season. USC dropped its first two matches of the season but rattled off a program record 11-match winning streak and finished second in the Pac-12 with a 8-1-2 conference record.

Sophomore forward Croix Bethune leads the USC attack with 13 goals, seven assists and 33 points after earning All-Pac-12 Freshman honors in the spring. Four other Trojans have recorded double-digit points while senior Penelope Hocking ranks second on the team with 10 goals. Transfer Jada Talley was on Arizona last spring and scored in a 4-1 win over GCU on Feb. 4. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Anna Smith has started every match for USC this season and carries a 0.97 goals against average and a .778 save percentage. Smith recorded four straight shutouts from Sept. 3-19 this season.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The winner of this match will face Penn State in the second round next week.

For more GCU women's soccer news, notes and numbers, click here to view the match notes.

NCAA tournament first round | Saturday, Nov. 13 | 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Los Angeles, Calif. | Soni McAlister Stadium

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dani Babb

Hannah Edwards

Jordan Ferguson

Camryn Larson

Lindsey Prokop

Marleen Schimmer

Grand Canyon University Athletics