Good morning, Trojan Family! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Kyle Ford! Listen to the radio call from Ford’s leaping touchdown that helped USC secure its victory over Rutgers last Friday night.

What else can you find in today's edition of The Three Torches?

🏀 Watkins set to defend her national award
🏐 Volleyball set for a scary good matchup
⚔️ And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 No Surprise Here. Sophomore JuJu Watkins is set up to defend her Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award, which she won last year as a freshman, with her naming to the Watch List for the award as she enters her second season. An AP Preseason All-American and the unanimous selection as the 2024-25 Big Ten Coaches Preseason Player of the Year, Watkins is coming of a season where she set the all-time national record for scoring by a freshman with 920 points and finished as the nation's second-leading scorer behind Iowa's Caitlin Clark with 27.1 points per game.

🔼 Trojan Heroes. Freshman Kylie Chong and senior Xin (Cindy) Kou played the heroes as they each went into extra holes to claim the semifinal victory over UCLA, 3-2 at the East Lake Cup. Junior Catherine Park took home the first score of the day for both squads, dominating her competition 6&5. Park remained steady throughout the round as she won all six of her holes before hole No. 10. USC continues its run at the East Lake Cup as it will play LSU in the championship tomorrow at 7:40 a.m.

🔼 Going Out Strong. After leading the No. 6 USC women's soccer team to a 1-0 win over No. 8 UCLA to clinch the Big Ten Regular Season Championship on Sunday, USC's Maile Hayes was named the conference's Offensive Player of the Week and Laurence Gladu was named Goalkeeper of the Week. Hayes scored the game-winning goal in the first half and Gladu recorded the shutout as Sunday's win capped an unbeaten conference regular season for the Trojans.

🔼 A Scary Good Matchup. The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team heads down the 10 Freeway to take on crosstown rival UCLA on Halloween Night for a 6:30 p.m. meeting that will be shown live on Big Ten Network. The Women of Troy have won six of their last eight against the Bruins including a five-set victory at Galen Center two weeks ago.

🔼 Brand New Faces. In the first edition of the 2024-25 Getting To Know’ series introducing the newcomers of the USC Track & Field Program, get to know jumper, Brady Palen. As a graduate transfer from Wichita State, learn more about the All-American jumper as he settles into life in Los Angeles.

This season, Abbott and the Big Ten are pitting school against school in the largest blood donation competition of our lifetime to fight the largest blood shortage in a generation.

Want USC to win? Then don't give up. Give blood. Every donation scores one point for your school on the leaderboard.

The winning school will receive $1 million to advance student or community health. Individual donors will be offered a free one-month subscription to B1G+ and will be entered to win a trip to the 2024 Discover® Big Ten Football Championship Game on December 7, 2024. Learn More and Give Blood Today.

👻 SPOOKY SPENDINGS

Halloween's here, and Smart & Final's got everything you need to party, from drinks and candy, to masks, candles and dry ice! Smart & Final. Where Else?

Today’s Top Tier Performance presented by ARCO goes to two USC men’s water polo student-athletes: Carson Kranz and Robert Lopez Duart. Kranz earned his MPSF West Player of the Week award after tying his career high with a hat trick in USC's 18-10 win over visiting No. 10 UC Davis while Lopez Duart scored in a 13th consecutive game for USC, tallying a hat trick in the Trojans’ win over the Aggies for his award.

🗣️ SPREAD THE WORD

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📅 THE WEEK AHEAD

*All times Pacific

Wednesday, October 30
⛳️ Women’s Golf @ East Lake Cup in Atlanta, GA | Peacock | Live Scoring

Thursday, October 31
🏐 Volleyball vs. UCLA @ 6:30 p.m. in Los Angeles, CA | Tickets | BTN 

Friday, November 1
🎾 Men’s & Women’s Tennis @ Jack Kramer Classic in Rolling Hills Estates, CA
👟 Cross Country @ Big Ten Championships in Savoy, IL

⚔️ Click here to view the full USC Trojan Athletics Calendar

⚔️ Have a great Wednesday, everyone!