2023 Women's Top 30: How USC Fared vs. Projections

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2024, our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking one last look at 2023.

After all, you have to look at the most recent results before making projections for what’s to come. To do that, we’re taking a journey through the top 30 teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse — what went right, what went wrong and what we should all think of that team’s season.

Was it a success? A failure? A mixture of both? You’ll find out our thoughts over the next month or so.

USC WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Nike/USA Lacrosse Preseason/Final Top 20 Ranking: 16/16
2023 record: 16-4 (9-1 Pac-12)

WHAT WENT RIGHT

From April 7 on, USC was a tough team to crack. It clipped a pesky Colorado team twice, including in the Pac-12 tournament championship game, and also beat Stanford, which beat the Women of Troy on April 2. USC earned the top seed in the Pac-12 tournament after a nearly perfect conference season, with that lone slip-up against Stanford representing the only blemish.

Isabelle Vitale was again a two-way threat, compiling 37 goals and 35 assists for her second straight 70-point season. Ella Heaney (59 points), Maggie Brown (51 points) and Claudia Shevitz (41 points) were all part of a strong offense out West. But the team’s top unit was its defense, which ranked fifth nationally at 8 goals allowed per game. Olivia Dooley, Alexis Niblock, Danielle Carson, Emma Wightman and others were rocks in front of goalie Kait Devir.

WHAT WENT WRONG

USC drew a hungry Denver team in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Denver, the lone undefeated program in the country on Selection Sunday, was given the tournament’s No. 5 seed and a tough first opponent in the Women of Troy. USC became the latest Denver opponent to score fewer than 10 goals, losing 10-7. The score was tied at 6 after three quarters before Denver’s offense awakened late.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

USC bookended strong second and third quarters by Colorado to win the Pac-12 championship, the program’s first since 2019. USC led 4-0 after one quarter and 7-3 at halftime, but Colorado cut it to 9-6 entering the final quarter.

VERDICT

USC was ranked No. 16 in the preseason and finished No. 16 after the NCAA tournament. That is to say that the Women of Troy were exactly what we expected — stout defensively, deep offensively and a team capable of clipping some of the top teams in the nation.