USC women’s soccer survived the Illinois Fighting Illini’s late surge in a 3-2 match that came down to the final minutes. After the Trojans scored their third and final goal in the game, the Illini came back with two quick goals to put the game within one. USC was able to hang on, but the late scare was not on the agenda for head coach Jane Alukonis.
“When it comes down to these moments,” said Alukonis, “it’s going to be a matter of how well do we fight on as USC Trojans and how well do they fight on as the fighting Illini.”
The Trojans indeed fought on in the final minutes, shutting down the Illini and improving their record to 10-1-2, while Illinois fell to 6-6-2.
USC struck early in the match with a goal from senior midfielder Maria Alagoa — her fourth of the season. The play, beautifully set up on a through ball from senior forward Kayla Colbert allowed senior forward Maile Hayes to drop it back to a diving Alagoa who banked it off the pipe and in. This goal was only nine minutes into the match and set the tone for the first half.
From there, the Trojans controlled possession while the backline continued to hold strong — a theme for the Trojans this season.
“Coach Sugar [Shinohara] and coach Megan [Hinz] do a lot of the defending and have been very organized,” said Alukonis. “We want to make sure that we are very tight, very organized, very smart and very secure out of possession.”
Only 19 seconds into the second half of play, Colbert’s shot was deflected, which went directly to Hayes, who made no mistake with the open goal and finished the play for her seventh goal this year. This gave the Trojans a commanding 2-0 lead.
With only 18 minutes left on the clock, the Trojans struck again. This time, it was freshman forward Faith George inside the 18-yard box firing off a great pass from Alagoa to put USC up 3-0.
That’s when Illinois started its dramatic comeback, which ended up falling just short. On the restart, a mishandle from fifth-year Penn transfer goaltender Laurence Gladu — who has looked like a brick wall this season — allowed Illinois’ fifth-year midfielder Kennedy Berschel to bring the score within two.
Five minutes later, freshman forward Lauren Seppi scored her second career goal on a right-footed crack from just outside the box. It was a beautifully placed shot, perfectly into the top right corner where Gladu was unable to get a hand on it.
However, that was as close as Illinois would come to a result, as the Trojans squashed the comeback and finished the game with a 3-2 victory.
They will play their 11th and final away game on October 13 against Northwestern at 12 p.m.