Courtesy: USC Athletics
#2 USC (23-1, 2-0) vs. #1 Stanford (15-0, 3-0)
Saturday, March 29 | 1 p.m. | Uytengsu Aquatics Center
Series Record (since 1996): USC trails 43-49 (L7)
Last Meeting: STAN 10, USC 6 (Feb. 23, 2025)
STREAM | STATS
THIS WEEK
No. 2 USC remains at home for the next three games, setting up next to host top-ranked Stanford and looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Cardinal. USC (23-0, 2-0 MPSF) and Stanford (15-0, 3-0) will clash at 1 p.m. on Saturday (March 29) in an MPSF battle at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
RANKINGS
USC opened up 2025 ranked No. 3 in the national rankings. On Feb. 5, the Trojans moved up to rank No. 1 in the nation, and stood tied in that spot for the next two weeks before moving to No. 2 in the nation on Feb. 26. USC remains at No. 2 in the latest set of national rankings (released March 26).
LAST ACTION
USC went on the road and picked up an MPSF win in Berkeley over Cal before returning home to Uytengsu to beat Brown to extend the Trojans’ win streak to nine and improve to 23-1 overall.
#2 USC 13, #5 California 9
USC came back from a first-period deficit to defeat the Golden Bears behind a five-goal explosion from Morgan Netherton. It was a defensive-oriented affair early on, with six steals across both squads in the first quarter. The Golden Bears opened scoring with back-to-back goals before Ava Stryker answered with a man-up conversion for USC. Cal would grab another score with 30 seconds left, but on the next drive, Meghan McAninch added her own goal with a bar-in blast to get USC within one at 3-2. Emily Ausmus and Netherton collected their first goals to open the second, after which the Bears brought the score to even on the power play. A Jada Ward block-to-assist feed to Tilly Kearns took the Trojans into the lead once again on the counterattack. USC’s offensive energy continued to the end of the half, with Netherton tallying her second and Alma Yaacobi turning in from set to bring the score to 7-4 for halftime. Ward’s three straight saves and an Ausmus field block kept Cal scoreless until 10 seconds remained in the third. In the meantime, Ausmus added a 5-meter penalty shot and Netherton hit her hat trick on a 6-on-5 finish. The Bears’ own 5-meter penalty conversion brought the score to 9-5 going into the fourth frame, but USC stayed in control from there. Netherton collected two more to record her new career high, while Ausmus and Yaacobi added their own man-up and penalty goals to the scoresheet, respectively, to bring the final up to 13-9.
#2 USC 23, #22 Brown 9
It was a two-goal game early in the second period at Uytengsu until USC hit the afterburners. A 5-meter penalty shot converted by Morgan Netherton lit the fuse for the Trojans, who set off on a six-goal surge to take control. Ausmus struck twice in that rally, with Ava Stryker, Emma Lawson and Maggie Johnson joining the fun to help build out a 13-5 USC lead. Brown broke up the party with a 5-meter penalty conversion, only to see Kearns and Stryker nail their second goals and Meghan McAninch have the last word of the half to net a 16-6 USC halftime lead. Kearns unleashed three goals in the third while Ausmus punched up two more to get their respective high marks on the day, and USC was up 21-9 entering the fourth. There, the USC defense silenced the Bears with Lauren Schneider in the cage for that frame. She made four saves in that stretch, while Isabel Zimmerman knocked in back-to-back goals on the offensive end to top off the 23-9 USC win.
NOTABLE:
– With five goals scored vs. Cal, JR Morgan Netherton set a new career high.
– With 10 saves vs. Cal, JR Jada Ward recorded her fourth double-digit save outing of the season.
– With six goals scored vs. Brown, FR Emily Ausmus matched her career high.
– Ausmus has now scored 84 goals this season, ranking third all-time in single-season goals by a Trojan.
– Ausmus has now recorded multiple-goal games in 23 of USC’s 24 games this season.
– With goals in both games, Ausmus and SO Ava Stryker have scored in all 24 games this season.
– With five goals vs. Brown, SR Tilly Kearns has now scored 76 goals this season — sixth most single-season goals by a Trojan.
– USC’s 10 goals scored in the second period of play vs. Brown tied the most single-quarter goals scored by the Trojans this season.
– For her efforts across both games, Ausmus was named MPSF Newcomer of the Week for the third straight week and sixth overall this season — she’s one award short of Paige Hauschild’s 2018 mark of seven MPSF Newcomer of the Week wins.
BY THE NUMBERS
Now 24 games deep into 2025, USC’s balanced scoring charge is led by Emily Ausmus and Tilly Kearns with 84 and 76 goals, respectively. Next in line is Ava Stryker, with 58 to help lead a pack of six Trojans with 30 or more goals to date. In all, 17 Trojans have scored at least one goal in 2025, including six with their first goals as Trojans. Defensively, all four USC goalies have factored into USC’s 23-1 record — all of whom have set career highs already this year. Junior Jada Ward has started 21 games for the Trojans, and she hauled in a career-high 13 saves in USC’s win over Hawai’i earlier this season along with back-to-back 11-save outings at the BKI. Overall, the goalie group averages 7.7 saves per game to anchor a Trojan defense giving up 8.8 goals per game. USC has outscored opponents 441-211 so far, while holding teams scoreless in 10 different periods to date. Offensively, USC is averaging 18.4 goals per game.
CLIMB ON
Both Emily Ausmus and Tilly Kearns have broken the 70-goal barrier this season — now two of just 11 Trojans to have done so in a single season. Ausmus’ continues to expand on her new USC record for goals scored by a Trojan true freshman, now with 84 goals — the third-most single-season goals scored by any Trojan. Kearns’ 76 goals so far have propelled the senior up the USC career ladder, now ranking No. 4 all-time in scoring at USC with 238 goals. Junior goalie Jada Ward also has joined elite company, now ranked No. 10 all-time in career saves at USC with 179 total stops to date.
ON REPEAT
In back-to-back weeks, USC claimed both MPSF awards, notching another sweep with Tilly Kearns’ first MPSF Player of the Week award of the season and Emily Ausmus’ second MPSF Newcomer of the Week selection on Feb. 10. The two Trojan Olympians were instrumental in top-ranked USC’s 19-15 win over No. 6 UC Irvine, while also helping lift USC to a 24-7 win over Biola in the Trojans’ home opener. Kearns scored five goals against the Anteaters after tallying two against the Eagles. Also against UCI, Kearns drew an exclusion and had a steal. In the win over Biola, she had three steals and an assist along with a drawn exclusion. Ausmus also scored five goals in USC’s win over UC Irvine after hitting a career-high six goals vs. the Eagles. She also served up three assists and had three steals and a field block in the win over the Anteaters while going 5-of-6 shooting. Against Biola, she added two assists and two steals to her six goals on eight shots. Kearns and Ausmus have each scored in every game for USC this season, with Ausmus tallying multiple goals in all 10 games and Kearns doing so in all but one.
SWEEPS WEEK
USC landed a pair of Trojans on the MPSF’s weekly honor roll for the first time this season following USC’s run to the 2025 Triton Invitational championship. For their key roles in a powerful 4-0 run at the event that was topped with a title-winning victory over rival UCLA, Rachel Gazzaniga was named MPSF Player of the Week and Emily Ausmus the MPSF Newcomer of the Week. Gazzaniga scored a career-high four goals — including a run of three straight goals during the second half — to help USC beat No. 1 UCLA 14-11 in the championship game at the Triton Invitational. She finished with nine goals at the event, having scored in all four games for the Trojans as USC also beat CMS 30-8 and No. 21 UC Davis 17-9 in group play and No. 5 Hawai’i 17-9 in the semifinals. Gazzaniga scored twice and had an assist, steal and block vs. CMS. Against UC Davis, she also scored twice and added an assist and steal along with two drawn exclusions. In the win over the Rainbow Wahine she had a goal, assist and steal. Gazzaniga also had three drawn exclusions vs. the Bruins, helping USC stay undefeated on the season at 8-0 after winning the Trojans’ second Triton Invite title in the last three years. A freshman, Ausmus scored 12 goals to help USC win the Triton Invitational championship. She scored twice and had three assists in the title game against UCLA. She opened the event with five goals in a 30-8 USC win over CMS, then had a hat trick in a 17-9 win over UC Davis to wrap group play. In the semifinal vs. Hawai’i, Ausmus scored twice and had four assists and a steal to help USC to a 17-9 win over the Rainbow Wahine. Ausmus has scored multiple goals in all eight games for USC this season. Gazzaniga and Ausmus are the first Trojans to earn weekly honors from the conference this season, and this is the first set of such honors for both.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Almost half of USC’s scoring was generated by just five Trojan freshmen and sophomores last year, led by All-Americans Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker with 49 goals apiece. That dynamic duo gained extra experience as teammates with Team USA in a gold-medal run at the recent Pan American Games alongside incoming freshman and 2024 Olympian Emily Ausmus. Along with Ausmus, who deferred her enrollment in 2023-24 to compete with Team USA in Paris, USC welcomes a total of five newcomers to the pool for this 2025 campaign. Also boasting international experience are true freshman Alma Yaacobi (Israel) and junior transfer Sinia Plotz (Germany). Southern California products Ava Knepper and Sofia Umeda are also tabbed as quick impact players for the Trojans in their first season ahead.
VETERAN VIPS
Two-time Olympian and 2024 silver medalist Tilly Kearns plunges back into action at USC, where she is one of a five-woman senior class setting up for their final season as Trojans. Laine Hourigan, Emma Lawson, Sally McCarthy and Isabel Zimmerman all bring veteran experience to the 2025 Trojan talent pool. Lawson and junior Maggie Johnson are USC’s team captains this season, joined by Kearns, Zimmerman, junior Morgan Netherton and sophomore Gazzaniga on head coach Casey Moon‘s Leadership Council, which serves as a guiding force for the Trojans.
STAYING CENTERED
USC’s center play is anchored by Tilly Kearns and Alma Yaacobi on the offensive end, and is balanced by the defensive savvy of Emily Ausmus and Rachel Gazzaniga as guards. Gazzaniga and Madison Haaland-Ford also add offensive options at the two-meter slot for the Trojans.
ATTACK MODE
USC’s perimeter attack features a number of Trojan sharpshooters. Along with the more veteran talent of Morgan Netherton and Isabel Zimmerman, sophomores Rachel Gazzaniga, Ava Stryker and Meghan McAninch have proven their worth on the perimeter, with further reinforcements coming in from newcomers Sinia Plotz, Ausmus and Kearns. Additional depth from the bench comes from Hannah Carver and Jelena Sarac, who scored their first goals as Trojans last season, along with another redshirt sophomore in Caitlin Cohen.
CAGE FIGHTERS
On the defensive end of the pool, USC also boasts a connected unit of goalies. Laine Hourigan and Jada Ward both have logged time in the cage the last two seasons. They’re joined by two other Trojan goalies in redshirt freshmen Anna Reed and Lauren Schneider as USC’s goalkeeping corps for 2025.
LAST SEASON
In 2024, USC went 18-9 overall in a season that saw the Trojans make a 20th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in Casey Moon‘s first season as full-time head coach for the Trojans. USC tied for second in MPSF regular-season play at 4-2 and finished fourth at the MPSF Tournament. At the NCAA tourney, the Trojans fell in the quarterfinals to Stanford. USC’s 2024 team was led in scoring by freshmen Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker with 49 goals apiece. Both earned All-America honors along with seniors Alejandra Aznar and Julia Janov.
THE PLACE TO BE.
The University of Southern California is the undeniable, unequaled and unquestioned top destination for student-athletes. USC is both home to 136 national team championships and one of the top-ranked private research institutions in the world. Located in the heart of the thriving Los Angeles metropolitan area, it is situated in one of the most diverse and visible media markets in the world. USC’s campus is driving distance from the beautiful beaches of Southern California, the majestic mountains range of the Sierra Nevada, the sprawling splendor of the Redwood and Sequoia national forests, and the mysterious Mojave Desert. •
