US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Preseason Top 20 on Jan. 8. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com throughout January and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition that mails to US Lacrosse members Feb. 1 — opening day of the 2018 college lacrosse season.

No. 8 USC

2017 Record: 18-4 (8-0 MPSF)
Coach: Lindsey Munday (6th year)

All-Time Record: 69-30 (5 years)
NCAA Appearances: 3
Final Fours: 0
Championships: 0

Gussie Johns spent the summer doing something new and unfamiliar.

She sat the bench.

“I had never been on a sideline for more than a half of a half,” Johns said. “Even in high school, in any sport I played.”

But that’s what happens when you make the U.S. Women's National Team roster behind the best goalie of all time, Devon Wills — who is also your college coach. Johns said she was neither surprised nor upset to be sitting and watching her coach and friend start most of their games together in the FIL Women’s World Cup and the World Games last summer.

Instead, she said, it was perhaps exactly the experience she needed before her senior year at USC in which she will be not just a starter — which she’s been in every game for USC since arriving as a top recruit three years ago — but the team’s top returning leader. This season will be Johns’ second as captain, but even as a team leader in 2017, she was surrounded by a talented cast of senior leaders. In 2018, the departure of All-American Michaela Michael and much of the Trojan’s offense, said Johns, means she expects to play a more significant role as a team leader — a role her summer playing behind Wills prepared her for.

“It gave me entirely different perspective on being a teammate,” she said. “It made me realize that everyone really does have a role.”

“Gussie is the kind of player who takes every experience she has and uses it to get better,” said USC coach Lindsey Munday.

After being named to the U.S. roster together last spring, Johns played mostly back-up to Wills as Team USA rolled off a 12-0 record in international play. Wills played most of the World Cup, with Johns coming in relief, though Johns was in goal for the gold medal game of the World Games against Canada.

Johns said she knew going in she would mostly be watching from the bench. “It was Devon’s time to shine.”

On the sidelines, she found herself bonding tighter with her teammates than she expected. It reminded her of the value of strong team bonds between starters and back-ups, a lesson she said she believes will help her be a better captain at USC.

“I could never really relate to a player who works their [butt] off everyday at practice but doesn’t get playing time. I always sympathized with them, but I could never tell them, ‘I know how you feel,’” she said. “Now I feel able to talk to others who are younger and afraid they aren’t going to play as much, and I can tell them look, play as hard as you can, day in day out, in the fullest possible way you can, then everyone is going to benefit.”

The Case For USC

USC’s defense was second nationally in 2017, allowing just 8.09 goals per game, behind only Stony Brook. Johns joins All-American Lydia Sutton, who forced 27 turnovers and picked up 38 ground balls. On offense, sophomore Kerrigan Miller, the MPSF Freshman of the Year, should be capable of taking over games as the central cog in a rebuilding offense.

A Top 10 recruiting class joins to fill holes, too, as does Harvard-graduate transfer Maeve McMahon, who captained the Crimson and scored 32 goals in 2017. “She’s someone who played last year and has that leadership and a lot of creativity,” USC coach Lindsey Munday said. “Yet she came in really wanting to learn, which is good for the younger players to see.”

The Case Against USC

Virtually all of the offense behind USC’s back-to-back NCAA quarterfinal runs is gone. Five of the team’s top six scorers — who together delivered two of every three Trojan goals in 2017 — are gone, most notably All-American Michaela Michael (78 goals, 99 points in 2017).

Miller is the top returning scorer (36 goals, 44 draw controls in 2017). USC also faces its toughest-ever schedule, with three ACC teams in the early season, then a new scheduling wrinkle: Unlike previous years, USC will play dangerous western rivals like Stanford and Colorado twice each as part of Pac-12 play.

Path to the Playoffs

The Trojans are two-time defending MPSF champions, a crown they’ll retire with as lacrosse’s western-most teams officially kick off the Pac-12 era. Whenever USC has met Stanford in recent years, playoffs or regular season, the winner has nearly always won the ensuing title.

Colorado, though, made the 2017 NCAA tournament and Oregon is on the rise as well. The schedule may make or break the Trojans’ NCAA hopes early with a string of eastern heavy-hitters: Virginia Tech, Stony Brook, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Boston College.

Players To Watch

Gussie Johns, G, Sr.
8.53 GAA, 46.4 SV%

After a summer on the women’s national team, playing behind USC Associate Head coach Devon Wills, Johns will be the anchor of any ambition USC has of a third straight deep-NCAA run.

Kerrigan Miller, M, So.
36 G, 18 A

Miller will be asked to lead the Trojans in scoring after an MPSF Rookie of the Year debut season. She also won 44 draws and played a key role on defense, forcing 31 turnovers, tops on the team.

Kaeli Huff, M, So.
29 G, 31 GB

Even in last season’s talent-heavy roster, Kaeli Huff started 19 games for the Trojans and scored 29 goals, second to Miller among returning players. Her sister, Kelsey, joins the Trojans as the 13^th-ranked recruit in the country after an All-American career at Eastport-South Manor, NY.

National Rankings

Power Ratings (Scale of 1-5)

Offense
⭐⭐⭐

Defense
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goalkeeping
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Draw
⭐⭐⭐

224

Goals scored in 2017, out of a season-total of 335, by players who graduated.

5-Year Trend
Goals Scored

Coach Confidential
Lindsey Munday

“Confidence. Will we develop the kind of confidence that people are comfortable taking risks, where people want to be in position to take game-winning shots, so we’re not one great player or two great players but a whole team willing to do those things?”

Enemy Lines
Rival Coaches

“Need Johns to be that game-changing goalie if they want to take the next step. … Put Kerrigan Miller on your Tewaaraton dark horse watch list. … Lose a lot of firepower and draw power in Michaela Michael. … Plays a unique style of defense that has been emulated by many.”