Penalty kick decides Lopes' NCAA tourney loss

Friday, November 10

Los Angeles, Calif.

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-5-4, 5-1-3

USC

11-4-3, 6-2-3

Grand Canyon

USC

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

11/10/2023 6:54:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU program's progress shows in 1-0 defeat at No. 22 USC

By: Paul Coro

LOS ANGELES – The end result of the Grand Canyon women's soccer team's second NCAA tournament game at USC was still defeat and disappointment, but those outcomes Friday could not have been more different than two years ago.

This time, the defeat was debatable, and the disappointment was not in how the Lopes played.

GCU was defensively brilliant against No. 22 USC on its home field with two national championship banners, but a questionable call gave the Trojans a 66th-minute penalty kick and the match's only goal to decide USC's 1-0 win.

NCAA tournament at USC

Two years ago, the Lopes made their debut on the grandest Division I stage and fell behind 4-0 in the first 19 minutes of a 6-0 loss at McAlister Field.

In its return, GCU battled to keep the game precariously scoreless until USC was awarded a penalty kick for a call on senior forward Lindsey Prokop, who was making a slide tackle from the side as Trojans forward Izzy Kimberly went down while heading out of the box and away from the goal.

USC junior midfielder Helena Sampaio converted the penalty kick for her sixth goal, the match's lone score as the GCU "Secret Service" defense did not allow a goal in the 90-minute run of play.

"I thought our girls really battled," said coach Chris Cissell, who is 49-25-9 at GCU since taking over the program after its 4-14-1 season in 2019. "We really competed. We were 'gritty grinders,' is what I've been calling them through this playoff run. It's just unfortunate that they got a penalty kick. We don't feel like it was the right call. We feel like it was a bad call by the referee. That happens in soccer. But it's a shame that that happens in soccer in a national tournament game when teams' seasons are on the line."

GCU's defense was missing junior Renee Sainz (concussion protocol), but sophomore Carly Waller stepped in for her capably to join the junior back-line trio of Destinee Duran-Wise, Aleisha Ganief and Sidney Roberts, who played the entire game and nearly teamed with junior goalkeeper DeAira Jackson for the season's 10th shutout.

"I'm really proud of the team" Lopes senior Bekah Valdez said. "It is tough that there are other things that happened. We fought as hard as we could, and they couldn't get past our back line. We fought as hard as we could."

The Lopes held the Trojans (11-4-3) to five first-half shots, with Ganief making multiple plays in the half's final three minutes to break up a threat, get a piece of a shot and thwart another USC opportunity with her pressure.

"We were just very organized, very structured," Cissell said. "I think we had a really good game plan going in.

"I thought we executed it really well, and that's one of the things that's been fun with this team, with this group, with this soccer family is they're very tactically astute and they understand the game."

That did not translate to GCU goal opportunities in USC's 10th shutout of the season. The Lopes opened the second half with their first shot on goal from junior midfielder Brenna Alderson on her birthday.

But playing on a field where the Trojans were beaten once this season, the Lopes could not get to the ball in the box and dodged a 61st-minute bullet when a USC shot went off the bottom of the crossbar.

GCU was outshot 14-4 (6-1 on goal) for the game, but Jackson made huge saves and the Lopes had 71st- and 72nd-minute corner kicks and late-game pressure before running out of time.

"Once we settled down early and started playing, I was like, 'OK, we got this,' " Prokop said. "We went into half 0-0 and I thought that it was completely our game. If we went into double overtime and it was still 0-0, I knew we were going to win in PKs."

The loss broke GCU's 10-match unbeaten streak but showed the progress of the program, which already had shown it could rise to the occasion when it was seconds away from a tie at SEC champion Arkansas and beat Utah Valley, a team receiving top-25 votes, in the WAC Tournament.

The Lopes created individual standouts with the national top-five offensive players – senior forward Gianna Gourley (21 goals, third nationally) and sophomore midfielder Leah Pirro (13 assists, fourth).

"We should be extremely proud of where we are and where we're going," Cissell said. "Even though the final score says 1-0, I think people are going to see that around the country and see that GCU played USC on the road in a very, very tight match. That's something we can all be proud of."

The senior class of eight players were major cogs in the program turnaround with two NCAA tournament trips.

"The program that Cissell has been creating is just on an increase, on the up and up," Prokop said. "The last time we came here, we lost 6-0 and it was 4-0 in like 10 minutes. So to come here and basically not lose to a nationally ranked USC team is pretty awesome. I think it'll be exciting to see where these girls go in the future.

"I consider GCU home now. I love these girls. I love the coaches. They have made this a great place."

And that notion will turn Cissell and his coaching staff quickly to the future, which remains bright with the starting defense, midfield and goalkeeper returning.

"I'm sad to see all these seniors leave, and they've all been awesome for me and our soccer family, for our program," Cissell said. "It's time for other players to step up. I'm excited to see who steps up next year and helps lead us back to another championship and back to another national tournament."