SLU WOMEN'S SOCCER GAME NOTES & INFORMATION | NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
Game 23	Saint Louis (15-1-6) vs. USC (16-1-3)
Date // Time	Friday, November 22, 2024 // 7 p.m. Central | Tickets
Location	Irvine, Calif. (Great Park Soccer Stadium)
Watch	ESPN+
Live Stats	SIDEARM
Game Notes	Saint Louis | USC

•No. 8 seed Saint Louis and No. 1 seed Southern California square off for the first time ever Friday, Nov. 22, with a spot in the NCAA Championship round of 16 at stake. Game time at Great Park Soccer Stadium in Irvine, Calif., is 7 p.m. Central.
•Live streaming and live stats are available. See the links above.
•The Billikens and Trojans are the only two remaining one-loss teams in the tournament. Maine and Western Michigan lost and Utah State was eliminated in penalty kicks in round one.
•After claiming the Atlantic 10 regular-season crown for a sixth time in seven years, Saint Louis won a seventh straight A-10 Championship title to earn the league's automatic NCAA bid.
•The Billikens, seeking a second straight "Sweet 16" berth, advanced to round two by defeating Kansas 1-0. The win extended SLU's unbeaten streak to 17 games (13-0-4) since Penn State handed the Bills their only loss of the season, 2-1, Sept. 1. The school record for longest unbeaten streak is 18, set in 2022 and equaled in 2023.
•In its first Big Ten Conference campaign, USC captured the regular-season title with a 10-0-1 record. The Trojans were eliminated from the Big Ten Championship in the semifinals, losing a penalty-kick shootout to Rutgers, but received an NCAA at-large bid and blanked Sacramento State 5-0 in round one.
•USC, which reached the second round of the 2023 NCAA Championship, is 12-0-2 since suffering its only defeat of the season, a 2-1 setback vs. then-No. 1 Stanford Sept. 8.
•Penn State was the only common opponent for Saint Louis and USC this season. The Billikens fell 2-1 to the Nittany Lions Sept. 1 in St. Louis, while the Trojans topped Penn State 2-1 at home Oct. 20.
•Saint Louis moved up two spots to No. 19 in this week's Top Drawer Soccer national rankings.
•SLU is competing in its ninth NCAA Championship overall and seventh in succession. Last year's victories over Indiana and Georgetown sent the Billikens to the "Sweet 16" for the first time.
•Saint Louis women's soccer is competing in California for the first time since 2005, when the Billikens played their only three previous games in the state, all at Santa Clara. SLU lost to the Broncos in regular-season play, then returned for the first NCAA Championship games in program history. The Billikens defeated Stanford before falling to Santa Clara.
•Emily Gaebe leads Saint Louis with 16 goals, tying the SLU single-season record she set last year, and 36 points. Lyndsey Heckel is second with six goals, while Julia Simon, Hannah Sawyer, Hope Kim and Audrey Smith have four goals each. Hannah Larson (seven), Katie Houck (five) and Gaebe (four) are the Billikens' assists leaders.
•Emily Puricelli has a 0.49 goals against average, an .868 save percentage and 11 shutouts. Puricelli has allowed just two goals over the last 10 games.
•Senior forward Maile Hayes (eight goals) and senior midfielder Maria Alagoa (six goals) are USC's top two scoring threats. Senior midfielder Helena Sampaio, senior forward/defender Kayla Colbert and senior forward Simone Jackson have four goals apiece, and Sampaio has a team-high six assists.
•Graduate goalkeeper Laurence Gladu has played every minute between the posts this season. Gladu has a 0.64 goals against average, an .812 save percentage and 11 shutouts.