USC lacrosse returns home with 2 wins

USC women’s lacrosse rebounded from its home loss against No. 6 Michigan with two wins on a three-game road trip to Maryland and Virginia. USC’s wins came against the Towson Tigers in Maryland and Virginia Commonwealth University.

However, a loss against lacrosse powerhouse No. 15 Johns Hopkins split the two victories, giving the Trojans a 1-2 record against ranked opponents heading into a three-game homestand.

The trip began on Friday against Towson, where USC suffered from a slow start in the first quarter, going down 2-1 at the break. But a 5-2 run in the second quarter gave the Trojans a 6-4 halftime lead that they never relinquished, putting five more past the Tigers in the second half while senior goalie Kait Devir only allowed one more Towson goal.

USC had the opposite issue against the Blue Jays, starting the match on a 4-0 run before falling apart in the second quarter. After the Trojans tallied their first four in the opening 10 minutes, Hopkins scored four unanswered goals to erase USC’s lead, and the Blue Jays extended that to an 8-6 advantage in the second half. The Trojans could only muster four second-half goals to Hopkins’ five, dropping the second game of the trip in Baltimore.

The final match against VCU was the trip’s highest-scoring, with the two teams combining for over 30 goals. On the back of a five-goal first half from senior attacker Maggie Brown, plus two apiece from senior attacker Shelby Tilton and junior attacker Maddie Dora, the Trojans raced out to a 13-7 halftime lead.

The Rams didn’t make USC’s life easy in the second half, however. Having scored the final three goals of the second quarter and another two late in the third quarter, VCU had gone on a 5-2 run that forced USC head coach Lindsey Munday to take a timeout to help the team reset, with the Trojans holding a 15-9 advantage.

“It’s playing to our standard,” Munday said about her message to the team in that moment. “We just lacked discipline, our skill in terms of clearing the ball and not turning it over. I think we got lazy. We need to hold the standard no matter what the score is and take pride in what we do.”

And while VCU continued to rally with a four-goal final quarter, crucial USC goals from junior midfielder Christina Gagnon and redshirt sophomore attacker Callie Cirilli gave USC its 16th and 17th scores, putting the game out of VCU’s reach. Both Gagnon and Cirilli’s goals were their first of the season.

While going to the East Coast and returning with a winning record is undoubtedly a successful trip, a win against a ranked opponent in Johns Hopkins would’ve made a huge difference on the Trojans’ resume, considering USC doesn’t currently have any more ranked opponents on its schedule. Presumably as a result of the Hopkins loss, USC fell one spot from No. 16 to No. 17 in the Inside Lacrosse top 25 ranking.

“I think we learned lessons,” Munday said about the road trip. “I think some lessons were frustrating,  some were beneficial… At this point in the season, that’s what you need to do. You need to assess after every game and continue to get better. We just want to not have to learn the same lessons multiple times.”

Crucially, though, the Trojans recovered from a low-scoring 9-3 loss to the Michigan Wolverines and their primary goal-scorers stayed in form across the road trip. Brown, Tilton and Dora all scored in each of the three games, with Brown totalling 10, Tilton six and Dora five. Senior midfielder Claudia Shevitz also posted an explosive, four-goal performance against Towson.

The team will return to action against Temple at 1 p.m. Friday at Dignity Health Sports Park, the team’s temporary home while the university constructs Rawlinson Stadium, the team’s future home.

“The biggest thing is playing together and having connection,” Munday said. “At moments, we lost that today [against VCU]. So, again, using every single player on this team and really playing together and having a great connection on the field … it’s going to have to be a team effort.”