BERKELEY, Calif. - The No. 17 USC Trojans are the 2023 Pac-12 Women's Lacrosse Tournament champions after defeating Colorado, 12-6 on Saturday afternoon. It is the second Pac-12 Tournament title for the Trojans, who won the event in 2019, and the second time USC has won both the regular season and tournament crown the same year. The Trojans will receive the Pac-12's automatic bid to the 29-team 2023 NCAA Tournament, the sixth NCAA appearance in program history.

USC’s Katie Ramsay opened the scoring with 11:11 left in the first, her 16th score of the year. The Trojans added another with just under five-minutes remaining on Maggie Brown’s score, who crossed into the eight-meter and quickly netted the pass from Isabelle Vitale. USC closed out the frame with two more goals, each by Vitale and Christina Gagnon, holding the Buffaloes to just one shot and off the scoreboard for a 4-0 lead into the second quarter.

Colorado broke through just over two minutes in on Morgan Pence’s 29th goal of the year, however Brown put the Trojans back up by four a minute later at 5-1. Charlie Rudy netted her free position attempt to cut it to three, and USC responded with two of the next three scores to carry a 7-3 advantage at halftime.

Pence recorded the hat trick and then added her fourth of the game with 10:59 left in the third to make it a two-point game before Vitale pushed the Trojan lead back up to three just eight seconds later, her third of the contest. Pence continued her stellar day with her fifth goal of the game, and her second goal in less than a minute, as the USC lead was trimmed to 8-6 with 10:02 left. Brown joined the hat trick party at 3:05 when she sent a bounce shot to the back of the net, giving the Trojans a three-goal advantage going into the final 15 minutes of regulation.

USC’s Claudia Shevitz went back-to-back as the Trojans created an 11-6 lead with just over nine-minutes left in the game. Ella Heaney wrapped up the scoring with 37 seconds left as USC cruised to the 12-6 win. The Trojan defense held the Buffaloes scoreless in the first and fourth quarters.

Pence led all players with five goals while Donnelly posted 11 saves. Vitale had six points on three goals and three assists.

2023 Pac-12 Women's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team
Riley Drullinger - California
Morgan McCarthy - Oregon
Katie Vahle - Arizona State
Gigi Gaspar - Arizona State
Sarah Jaques - Stanford
Annabel Frist - Stanford
Morgan Pence - Colorado
Charlie Rudy - Colorado
Grace Donnelly - Colorado
Catherine Lord - USC (Tournament MVP)
Isabelle Vitale - USC
Maggie Brown - USC
Danielle Carson - USC