Lopes face Trojans in NCAA 1st round

Saturday, November 13

Los Angeles, CA

1 p.m. PT / 2 p.m. MT

Grand Canyon

USC

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Photo by: WAC

11/12/2021 5:23:00 PM | Women's Soccer

GCU plays in historic 1st NCAA Tournament match

By: Jerob Moon

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.