No. 14 UCLA (11-4-2, 8-2-1) at USC (2-9-6, 1-6-4)
Date/Time: Friday, Oct. 30, 2026 – 7 p.m. PT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. (Rawlinson Stadium)
Broadcast: Big Ten Network (Christian Miles, Tracey Bailey)
Live Stats: usctrojans.com

CROSSTOWN SHOWDOWN FRIDAY    
No. 14 UCLA (11-4-2, 8-2-1 in the Big Ten) closes the regular season slate on Friday, Oct. 30 with a rivalry matchup against USC (2-9-6, 1-6-4). The match will take place at Rawlinson Stadium on the USC campus at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network. This will be UCLA’s first time playing at Rawlinson Stadium since it opened in 2025.  

WHAT’S AT STAKE    
Along with city bragging rights, UCLA is playing for a No. 2 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. A win over USC would guarantee the No. 2 seed. The Bruins could land anywhere between No. 2 and No. 4. Entering the week, UCLA and Purdue each have 25 points in league play, but the Bruins hold the tiebreaker by virtue of a 2-1 win over the Boilermakers on Sept. 10. Michigan State is in fourth place with 24 points but could pass the Bruins with a win combined with a UCLA tie or loss.   

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
USC enters the match with a 2-9-6 overall and 1-6-4 Big Ten record. The Trojans are 1-1-1 in their last three games, including a 3-0 win over Northwestern. Eleanor Morrissey leads the team in scoring with eight points (two goals, four assists), while Peyton Nakagawara and Lily Biddulph have each scored three goals. USC is coached by Jane Alukonis, the 2024 Big Ten Coach of the Year. Alukonis was an assistant coach at UCLA from 2018-21 prior to USC.     

THE SERIES WITH USC
UCLA leads the all-time series with USC, 28-8-4. Last year’s Crosstown Showdown resulted in a 0-0 draw. USC won the year prior, 1-0. UCLA’s last win in the series came in 2023, a 4-2 victory at home. The last UCLA victory on the road came in 2018 when the Bruins beat the Trojans 3-2 in double overtime at Dignity Health Park in Carson. UCLA’s last win on the USC campus came in 2016 at the Coliseum.        

LAST TIME OUT 
No. 10 UCLA defeated Nebraska 2-1 on Oct. 25 thanks to two first-half goals by Cate Sarinopoulos and Anna Wilson. UCLA ended Nebraska’s six-game shutout streak and handed the Huskers their first loss since Sept. 24. An outstanding through ball by Grace Shank led to the Bruins’ first goal in the 14th minute. Shank fed Sammy Sanchez, whose shot was deflected by Nebraska goalkeeper Avery Gillahan. With the ball loose and Gillahan out of position, Wilson tapped the ball to Sarinopoulos, who put the ball in the back of the net for her third goal of the year. The Bruins scored off another stellar through ball in the 26th minute, with Oruha Hayashi finding Leena Powell on the left. Powell sent it into the box, and after a deflection by a Nebraska defender, Wilson hit a left-footed shot to the left corner of the net for her second goal of the year. 

IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA dropped four spots to No. 14 in the IWSOC Coaches Poll and three spots to No. 8 in Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 25.  

BY THE NUMBERS 
UCLA has allowed only five goals in conference play this season, and the Bruins’ 0.45 goals against average in Big Ten play is tied for first in the league … UCLA held a 560-minute shutout streak from Sept. 13-Oct. 11, a span that included five consecutive shutouts. Prior to that streak, the Bruins’ last shutout streak of five or more games came in 2024 when they started the season with five consecutive shutout victories … UCLA has outscored opponents 17-4 in the second half of games this season … Six of those 17 second-half goals have come in the final 10 minutes of the game, and four have come in the final five minutes.      

A SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER 
UCLA went 5-1 in the month of September, posting four shutouts and allowing just two goals, one each to the top-scoring teams in the Big Ten. During the month, the Bruins beat two unbeaten teams, including No. 5 Ohio State and shutout two conference teams on the road.   

BALANCED SCORING 
After two new players scored their first goals of the year in the Indiana game, the Bruins now have nine different players with goals this season. Oruha Hayashi matched Kara Croone’s six goals after her brace against Illinois; those two players have recorded three braces in UCLA’s last five contests. Leena Powell and Cate Sarinopoulos each have three goals this season, and Grace Shank, Anna Wilson and Molly Hale each have two. Payten Cooper and Asa Yamazak have one goal apiece. Hayashi leads the team in points (14), while Croone leads the team in game-winning goals (3). Croone (13 points) and Shank (11 points) also have double-digit point totals. Shank leads the team with seven assists.

SHANK-HAYASHI CONNECTION
Sophomore midfielder Grace Shank leads the Bruins and is tied for third in the Big Ten with seven assists. Four of her assists have gone to Oruha Hayashi, and Hayashi’s last four goals have been assisted by Shank. Hayashi has six goals in total this season, and the only two goals that were not assisted by Shank were a penalty kick and an unassisted goal.  

IRON WOMEN 
Four Bruins have logged over 1,300 minutes of play after 17 games. Junior defender Paloma Daubert has played every minute of every game, 1,530 minutes in total. Senior midfielder Oruha Hayashi ranks second in minutes played with 1,402, followed closely by sophomore midfielder Grace Shank, who has played 1,389 minutes, and junior defender Asa Yamazaki, who has totaled 1,352. Daubert, Shank and Hayashi are the only Bruins to start every game this season.     

UCLA IN THE BIG TEN  
UCLA is in its third season in the Big Ten and holds an 22-5-6 all-time conference record. In year one in 2024, the Bruins finished second in the regular season with a 8-1-2 record and swept through the conference tournament, allowing zero goals in three games and setting a championship record with five goals in the title match against Rutgers. The Bruins went 6-2-3 in conference play in 2025 and finished third in the regular season and tournament. UCLA is currently tied for second in conference play with 25 points. A win on Friday over USC would lock up the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament for the second time in three years. The last time the Bruins were the No. 2 seed was in 2024, their first year in the conference. UCLA won the Big Ten Tournament that season.        

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE 
UCLA endured a tough early-season schedule, matching up against four Top 5 teams in its first nine games. The Bruins played eight opponents who were unbeaten going into the matchup, and four of those teams (San Diego, Santa Clara, Purdue and Ohio State) came away with their first loss of the year. Those eight teams entered this week with a combined record of 80-23-23 (BYU 10-3-3, Duke 9-1-4, San Diego 5-8-2, Stanford 9-3-2, Santa Clara 7-2-7, Purdue 14-2-2, Michigan State 12-3-2, Ohio State 14-1-1), and three are currently ranked in the Top 10 (No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Duke and No. 6 Michigan State).

GOALKEEPER DEPTH 
For the first time since the 2015 season, three different goalkeepers have started a game for the Bruins. Daphne Nakfoor has started the most games with 10 and has five solo and one shared shutout on the year. She posted a season-high total of eight saves at Stanford. Mariangela Medina has made four starts, including three of UCLA’s last four games. She earned her first solo shutout of the season against No. 14 Washington, making three saves. Medina also has a shared shutout with Nakfoor against Indiana. Lynette Bryant got her first UCLA start against Pepperdine on Senior Day, earning a shutout, and she also started in the Bruins’ win over Purdue, making four saves. UCLA is one of just three teams in the nation to have three different goalkeepers record solo shutouts, joining UC Davis and Chattanooga.   

CORONA AT U-17 WORLD CUP 
Freshman midfielder Mia Corona is the latest Bruin assigned to Women’s World Cup duty, as she has joined the U.S. team at the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco. In the United States’ opening match against Samoa on Oct. 19, Corona was named the captain and scored the team’s second goal in a 17-0 victory. The U-17 World Cup runs from October 17 to November 7. Corona got into her first match as a Bruin on October 2 just before departing for World Cup play. This is Corona’s second Under-17 World Cup, as she was a starter for the U.S. in the 2025 tournament. Corona is the third Bruin to miss playing time this season due to World Cup duty. Junior goalkeeper Mariangela Medina missed six games earlier in the season while with Mexico at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland. Junior defender Abby Gemma missed three games while training with the U.S. team at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup as an alternate.  

OH CAPTAIN, OUR CAPTAIN 
Junior defender Paloma Daubert has led the Bruins both on and off the field as the team captain and defensive leader. Daubert, who was athird-team All-Big selection a year ago, has played in every minute of every game for a total of 1,530 minutes and has led the Bruins to eight shutouts and a team goals against average of 0.76. The Bruins are tied for the Big Ten lead in goals against average in conference play, at 0.45. UCLA’s defense has held opponents to single-digit shot totals in 11 of 17 games this season. Daubert has won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors three times in 2026, becoming the first to win three in one season since 2023. Only four other players in Big Ten history have won more Defensive Player of the Week awards in one season than Daubert.        

FRASER RETURNS 
Junior defender Nicki Fraser, the 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is back in 2026 after sitting out the 2025 season with injuries. In the season opener against BYU, she started and played 60 minutes, and in the Duke contest, she logged 64 minutes and drew a penalty kick in the 1-1 tie while helping to hold the Blue Devils to just two shots in the game. For her efforts, she was named the UCLA Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Champion of Westwood. Fraser, however, was out of action the next 11 games and returned on Oct. 11, playing 28 minutes against Illinois. She has started in UCLA’s last two games. As a freshman in 2024, Fraser started in 20 games and helped UCLA’s defense record the lowest team goals against average in the nation (0.41) and the most shutouts (16). In addition to being named the conference’s Freshman of the Year, she also received third-team All-Big Ten honors and All-Freshman acclaim. A U.S. Youth National Team member, Fraser played in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the 2023 Pan American Games.                 

POWELL, SHANK, WOODSON NAMED TO WATCH LIST
Bruins Leena Powell, Grace Shank and Olivia Woodson were selected to the Big Ten Players to Watch List. Powell, a sophomore forward from Culver City, Calif., started 16 of 19 games played a year ago and totaled one assist. She is a member of the U.S. Under-19 National Team, along with Shank, who played in all 21 games in 2025 and made 14 starts while totaling one goal and one assist. Shank, a sophomore midfielder from McLean, Va., was selected to the Big Ten All-Freshman team. Woodson, a forward from Chesterfield, Va., scored 18 career goals at Auburn University and was an all-region honoree in 2024.

MIDSEASON TOP 100 PLAYERS 
Top Drawer Soccer has included Paloma Daubert, Anna Wilson and Thea Perry on their Midseason Top 100 lists. Daubert is ranked No. 27 on the Midseason Top 100 list. Wilson ranks as the No. 41 player on the Freshman Top 100, and Perry slots as the No. 68 freshman. Five Bruins were on the Preseason Players to Watch List - Leena Powell, Ava Priest, Abby Gemma, Grace Shank and Daphne Nakfoor. Additionally, midfielder Mia Corona was named to the Preseason Freshman Team.                  

IMPACT TRANSFERS 
UCLA welcomed seven transfers to the squad in 2026, including three who have experience playing in the College Cup in Cate Sarinopoulos and Marli Galdamez (TCU 2025) and Lynette Bryant (BYU 2023). Also arriving in Westwood this season were 2024 all-region selections Olivia Woodson from Auburn and Ava Priest from Colorado, U.S. Under-20 National Team player Abby Gemma from Florida, and two-time Junior College All-American Asa Yamazaki (Arizona Western). Top Drawer Soccer ranked UCLA’s transfer class No. 2 overall in 2026. All seven transfers have started at least two games this season. Sarinopoulos ranks second on the team with two game-winning goals and third in goals scored with three. Yamazaki ranks second in assists with three and fourth in minutes played with 1,351.                 

WELCOME FRESHMEN 
The Bruins brought in a strong freshman class, highlighted by five youth national team players from four different countries - U.S. Under-17 midfielder Mia Corona, U.S. Under-16 defender Thea Perry, Mexico Under-20 National Team forward Anaiya Miyazato, Canada Under-17 National Team defender Molly Hale, and Brazil Under-17 National Team defender Bela Araújo. Also joining UCLA in 2026 were defender Anna Wilson and midfielder Fiona McGeough. Wilson has played in every game, making 11 starts, and she leads the Bruin freshmen in scoring with six points (two goals, two assists). Hale also has two goals. Perry played in 10 games and made six starts before going down with an injury in late September.