In its first Pac-12 away game of the season, the No. 21 USC women’s soccer team came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory Thursday night over Arizona State. The Trojans’ record is now 7-2 overall and 2-0 in Pac-12 play.
After attacking early with a series of shots around the 11th minute, the Sun Devils got on the board first with a goal in the 30th minute by senior forward Nicole Douglas.
The Trojans got off to a slow start in Tempe, getting outshot 7-4 and struggling to finish scoring opportunities in the first half.
It wasn’t until the 44th minute that USC would make up the deficit. Freshman forward Simone Jackson scored the equalizer after junior forward Hannah White slipped a through ball to Jackson inside the box to tie the game going into halftime.
“It took us a while in the first half to get the energy going, but we had a lot of good players come into the game to provide that energy,” redshirt senior midfielder Savannah DeMelo said. “I think Simone getting that goal right before half kind of gave us a lot of momentum going into the second half.”
Sure enough, the Trojans came out strong in the second half of the game, allowing the defense to settle in and the offense to maintain greater possession and ultimately score again.
Although USC created a series of scoring chances in the opening minutes of the second half, the game remained tied at 1-1 until the 61st minute when freshman midfielder Simi Awujo found junior midfielder Croix Bethune at the top of the box. Bethune fired off a shot that was stopped on a diving block by Arizona State’s freshman goalkeeper Birta Gudlaugs. However, DeMelo was right on the rebound and found the back of the net despite a firm tackle that sent her down on the pitch.
“Right when I was rolling I didn’t see the ball go into the back of the net. All I saw was the keeper dive so I thought the keeper saved it,” DeMelo said of her game-winning goal. “It was a great shot by Croix and it was a great save and I was just happy I was in the right place at the right time to put it away.”
Both DeMelo and head coach Keidane McAlpine emphasized the importance of playing a full 90 minutes and credited the energy boost in the second half to players coming off the bench to help the team secure a victory and extend its winning streak.
“I thought the energy we got from Hannah, Simone, [senior midfielder/forward Maddy Vergura] and [junior defender Isabel Rolley] off the bench lifted the team and allowed us and led us to the win today,” McAlpine said in an interview posted to the team’s Twitter account after the game. “We need to start games with that kind of energy, but those four in particular kind of gave us the lift today to allow us to win.”
Despite the slow start, the Trojans outshot Arizona State 12-3 in the second half. The win puts them tied with Washington State at the top of the Pac-12 standings with 6 points each and gives them confidence heading into Sunday’s match.
“I think just getting the first win on Thursday is huge,” DeMelo said. “It kind of sets the momentum going into the next game.”
The Trojans will travel to Tucson to face the Arizona Wildcats Sunday at 1 p.m.