“For us, our main goal has been improving throughout the year, and we did that,” said head coach Lindsey Munday. “We’re really excited to have the opportunity to play in the MPSF tournament. It’s really special and I’m really proud of the girls.”

The Trojans (8-9, 5-3) first matchup with the nationally ranked Pioneers was a tale of two halves, as the Trojans came out sluggish and physically overwhelmed from the start, suffering a 16-11 loss. The Women of Troy fell behind 10-3 at the half, but came out strong in the second half of action, pushing the pace of play thanks to Caroline Cordrey (4 goals), who led the charge on offense.

Denver poses quite the threat offensively with the conferences top scoring attack, led by the dynamic duo of Kara Secora and Jenn Etzel. The upperclassman have combined for 90 goals this season, making them the top duo in the conference. The biggest catalyst for the offense is team-oriented star Jill Remenapp who is leading the nation in assists.

In the sport of Lacrosse, draw control makes all the difference in setting up the attack and limiting the other teams possession. The Trojans are blessed with freshmen Amanda Johansen in the draw circle; she is leading the conference and is seventh in the nation with 5.81 per game. Johansen will most likely square with Kiki Boone, a thrilling matchup that Johansen won 8-5 in their only meeting this season on March 31st.

The best matchup of the night will most likely be in front of the posts as underclassmen Liz Schaefer and Hannah Hook will be vital for both teams success. The Women of Troy are led by freshmen goaltender Liz Schaefer who has stopped the most shots in the MPSF conference this season.

Hannah Hook is a menacing figure in net for Denver, the 5’9″ sophomore has good vision and is very agile in net, allowing her to record a top-20 GAA (8.73) to anchor the stingy defense.

This matchup will test the Women of Troy, who are in the midst of their inaugural season with little expectations moving forward. If the Trojans can control the draws, and keep the ball in the Denver defensive end, they have shown a spark-plug ability to score quickly. Expect this playoff matchup to come down to the wire since the young Women of Troy are playing with house money.

The Trojans will return to Eugene, Oregon for the MPSF Tournament. The Women of Troy have been quite successful in Eugene, upsetting the defending MPSF-champs Oregon 12-10 in their first meeting.

Here is an updated schedule of tournament action, with the winner securing a guaranteed berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Semifinal #1
4. USC (8-9, 5-3) vs. 1. Denver (16-1, 8-0)
Thursday, May 2 – 4:30 p.m. PT

Semifinal #2
2. Stanford (11-5, 6-2) vs. 3. California (9-6, 6-2)
Thursday, May 2 – 7 p.m. PT

Championship Game
Semifinal Winner #1 vs. Semifinal Winner #2
Saturday, May 4 – 1 p.m. PT

“This really was the first game in which we played a full 60 minutes where every single player played a major role in securing the victory,” Head Coach Lindsey Munday said. “We didn’t have to rely on just one or two players. We had people step up in all facets of the game, today, and it produced a great result.”

The Trojans (6-8, 3-2) were led by freshman attackers Caroline de Lyra, who finished with three goals and three assists, and freshmen Caroline Cordrey, who scored four goals on seven shots. The Oregon Ducks (5-6, 0-2) battled the Trojans down to the wire, but could not overcome the Women of Troy relentless attack.

“I think the reason that we were successful, tonight, especially on offense is because we had patience,” Munday said. “The Ducks shut down a lot of our plays, but the reason things worked is because we waited for the best opportunities to present themselves.” The patient Trojans outshot the Ducks 20-19 in the contest, while dominating the time of possession throughout the contest.

The scoring was tight throughout the first half, as neither team could gain more than a two-goal advantage. Haleigh Dalmass scored an unassisted goal at 26:37 mark giving USC the first lead of the game. Caroline de Lyra led the Trojans with two first-half goals, posting consecutive unassisted marks mid-way through the opening frame.

After Oregon scored three straight goals, the Trojans finished the half on a 4-2 run capped off by a free position goal from Caroline Cordrey with 40 seconds remaining.

The Trojans changed up the style of play once the second half came around, shifting the tide in their favor. “At the halftime break, we buckled down and honed in on feeding and made some good changes and got them to score in different ways and it helped,” Munday said. USC jumped out to a 10-8 lead with 18 minutes left in the game, playing strong defense led by their keeper Liz Schaefer who made five saves in the victory.

The Oregon Ducks tied the game at 10 as Hayley Miller drove right through the defense on a free position shot, intensifying the defensive stalwart. Caroline De Lyra came up with her third and most pivotal assist of the game when she hit a cutting Dalmass for a Trojan goal, giving them a lead they would not summas. ”Caroline was challenging in, and I saw my defender turn away, and I just went to goal and Caroline made a great pass to me. She is a great, great feeder and she just made a great pass on that play.

The Trojans used their patient attack to milk down the final minutes of action, even adding on to their lead with a goal from the star of the game, Pac-12 leading scorer Caroline de Lyra. The Women of Troy sit over .500 in the conference with the victory, heading into their second-to-last home game against Cal Berkeley on Fri., Apr. 12th at 3 p.m.

The Trojans split over the weekend posting an impressive 23-8 victory over LIU Brooklyn, then falling short 18-13 against Princeton. The East Coast Swing was rather comfortable for this current team who has 13 players from either New Jersey or New York.

In the first game of the trip USC came out hot early, getting on the board 28 seconds into the game as Caroline Cordrey started the attack. Freshmen Paige Bonomi did rather well in her homecoming, leading the victorious effort with five goals. The Women of Troy never looked back from that opening goal extending their lead to 6-0 before LIU responded with a strike from Allison Canfield.

Head Coach Lindsey Munday was impressed with her teams performance and said that it was a tremendous building block for the program to win their first-ever road game. Since Lacrosse is such a popular sport on the east coast, do not underestimate the impact of the Trojans victory. The victory continues the process of transforming the reputation of USC Lacrosse and the sport as a whole on the West Coast.

Things did not sail as smoothly in the second game of the trip, faltering to Princeton 18-13 in a hard-fought game. The Women of Troy fell behind 4-0 early as the back-to-back games took a toll on the defense. Once the girls fell behind, the Trojan players amped up the intensity.

Like the mentality of their Head Coach Lindsesy Munday, the team crawled back into the contest by playing hard and fighting for every ground ball. Freshmen Caroline de Lyra capped the strong comeback tying the game at eight as part of a six-goal first half.

The Trojans trailed 10-8 at the half and could never muster enough on the attack to mount the comeback, but certainly earned the respect of their foes. Princeton Sarah Lloyd topped all players with six assists on the day, propelling the offense towards a five-goal victory.

USC stands at 3-3 (1-0) on the season with the bulk of the MPSF schedule approaching, a conference in which the Trojans are currently tied for. This fledgling team with 17 freshmen has plenty of talent with starts like attacker Caroline de Lyra, midfielder Amanda Johansen and goalie Liz Schaefer; all nationally recruited prospects.

The Women of Troy have found balance offensively and are beginning to control possession, something that is huge in Lacrosse. National Rankings are also starting to respect the Trojans work, propelling them to 58th in the Nation. The biggest challenge will be maintaining that sense of focus, with two crucial MPSF games this week.

The Women of Troy travel up north to face MPSF rival 19th-ranked Stanford on Wednesday and then UC Davis on Friday.