Playing in the team’s second home game at Dignity Health Sports Complex, USC lacrosse walked out onto the field hoping to secure its first upset of the 2024 season. Fans packed into the bleachers, excited to watch a match-up of top 15 teams.
After a 3-0 start on the season and 30 goals scored so far, the No. 13 Trojans seemed to be a well-oiled offensive machine. Saturday was a different story. The Trojans struggled to string together a good sequence of plays and find harmony on defense, losing 9-3 to No. 6 Michigan.
Winning games in lacrosse most often means winning the draw, but the Trojans struggled to win draws and got called for clamping multiple times, automatically giving Michigan a chance to score. After the match, senior attacker Shelby Tilton talked about how the team dealt with Michigan’s offense.
“I think we let adversity get the best of us this time,” Tilton said. “It was a low-scoring game, and offensively, that can be hard when producing is a main reason for what gets the energy going for the unit. So we need to find ways to stay connected and bring energy when we aren’t scoring in the majority of possessions.”
Michigan came out aggressively, winning the first draw and scoring first within seconds. The Wolverines then did that twice more, tallying a 3-0 lead. The Trojans did not respond until the end of the first quarter, when Tilton went one-on-one with a Michigan defender and took it to the goal. Tilton was the only thing working on the USC offense on Saturday, scoring all of the Trojans’ goals.
Trailing by five at half, the Trojans came out in the third quarter looking revived. They won the first draw control and scored, and it seemed they may have gotten a second wind. But, Michigan won a couple key draw controls in a row that put the Trojans down by seven. Still, the USC defense fought hard to hold the Michigan offense at bay. Junior defender Cate Lord said the team made good adjustments throughout the game.
“Through each quarter respectively we went four goals against, three goals against, two goals against, and then held a shutout in the last quarter, which is a pretty great defensive game,” Lord said. “We worked through four different defensive sets within the game and were able to implement adjustments frequently to keep control on our side of the ball.”
Lord also credited the team’s coaching staff for the defensive effort.
“Our defensive coach, Asa Goldstock, coached an amazing game, and I give credit to both her abilities to read the offense and proactively make decisions for our defense, as well as the defense’s ability to trust and lean in to every on fly adjustment we are given.”
The fourth quarter was uneventful, as the Trojans looked to bounce back and find some momentum. Michigan was composed on offense and in no hurry to score, given the Wolverines’ lead. The Trojans tried to produce something on offense but could not find the back of the net. When discussing what the team could do better, Tilton pointed to transitions.
“During practice our offense feels great, but the transition piece felt lost today. So moving forward, I think that will be a huge key,” she said.
The team looks to bounce back next weekend, as USC travels to Maryland to play Towson on Friday. Then, the Trojans will head to Baltimore on Sunday to face No. 12 Johns Hopkins, who is coming off two consecutive losses to fellow ranked programs Loyola Maryland and Penn. Finally, a matchup with VCU the following Tuesday will wrap up the road trip.