USC Women in First NCAA Soccer Game

It took six years, but the USC women’s soccer team plays its first NCAA tournament game today, hosting Washington at 1 at the Coliseum in the first round.

The Trojans received an automatic berth after tying UCLA and California at 7-2 in the Pacific 10 and winning the tiebreaker with victories over both.

While USC will be making history, it will also be trying to avoid repeating it against the Huskies.

USC (13-6-1) last lost, 3-2, Oct. 11 to Washington (10-8-1) at Seattle. “In the first weekend [of the Pac-10 season] we went to Washington and Washington State and got walloped,” USC Coach Jim Millinder said. ‘We came back and had a meeting on Monday and straightened some things out.”

The Trojans have won seven in a row since.

“We knew when the season started this was a talented team,” Millinder said. “The chemistry wasn’t there.”

Now, the chemistry is there, but the Trojans’ best player isn’t.

Midfielder Kim Clark, who led the Pac-10 in assists last year and had a team-high 10 goals this year, broke her leg in the closing minutes of the Trojans’ 5-4 victory over the Bruins on Nov. 1.

“The team picked up its level of play a notch [after the injury],” Millinder said. “Andrea Warner has played real well in her absence.”

The USC-Washington winner will travel to San Diego State on Sunday.