USC Women's Soccer Draws 3 Seed in NCAA Tournament, Will Host Grand Canyon

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's soccer team is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth year in a row with the release of the full postseason bracket today, drawing a three-seed in the 64-team field.
 
The Trojans (13-3-2) will host Grand Canyon (16-3-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. for their first round game. Broadcast information for the postseason contest will be released soon.
 
ROAD TO THE POSTSEASON
 
The Trojans finished the regular season second in the Pac-12 standings with an 8-1-2 conference mark, earning an at-large bid to this year's tournament. USC dropped its first two games of the season before rattling off a program-record 11-match winning streak and 15-match unbeaten streak. The Trojans reached as high as No. 5 in the national rankings and were ranked No. 8 in the latest poll.
 
USC's three losses all came to national seeds in this year's tournament field (4-seed Pepperdine, 4-seed BYU, 2-seed UCLA). The Trojans can claim wins over two teams in this year's postseason (2-seed Michigan, Stanford) and a draw with Washington State.
 
THE OPPONENT
 
Grand Canyon comes into the tournament as an automatic qualifier after winning a Western Athletic Conference tournament title. The Lopes won 16 games this year and posted a 7-1-2 conference record. It is the first NCAA Tournament berth in program history for GCU.
 
USC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
 
USC is making its 20th NCAA Postseason appearance this year and eighth straight since Keidane McAlpine took over the program in 2014. USC has won two National Championships in its history, becoming the first Pac-12 program to win a title in 2007 and then the first program from the conference to win a second title in 2016 (McAlpine's third year at the helm).
 
The Trojans have only missed the postseason nine times in the program's 29 year history and have advanced past at least the first round 13 times. USC has been a national seed in the NCAA field each of the last seven years.

Hear from Head Coach @Kmcdane as he gives his thoughts on the Trojans' draw. #FightOn pic.twitter.com/fvVf3knzds

— USC Women's Soccer (@USC_WSoccer) November 8, 2021