In a game that would determine the Big Ten regular season title, USC held firm and won 1-0 to clinch its first-ever Big Ten crown in the team’s debut season in the conference, as well as bragging rights in the battle of L.A.
“It’s amazing. We’ve been waiting for this,” senior defender Brooklyn Courtnall said. “This has been a long time coming. We have known that we had this type of team to win this year from the first day in August, and we just knew that if we stuck together, we were going to come out on top, and it was ours for the taking. And I’m just glad. I’m just so happy we took it.”
USC took complete control of the first half from the opening whistle. The opening minutes had the Trojans dominating possession and creating more threatening chances than UCLA. The Trojans first major opportunity came in the 16th minute, when senior forward Maile Hayes dribbled through several defenders and passed the ball out wide to senior midfielder Aaliyah Farmer. Farmer then launched a cross into senior forward Simone Jackson, whose shot deflected off of the post.
The Trojans would continue to dominate the Bruins in the first half and finally capitalized on their opportunities in the 36th minute. A chipped through ball into the box from senior midfielder Helena Sampaio — in scintillating form as of late — put Hayes through for a one-on-one opportunity with the UCLA goalkeeper. Hayes clinically put the ball in the back of the net by megging graduate keeper Ryan Campbell.
For the rest of the first half, the Trojans continued to be the better team despite an increased attacking intensity from UCLA. USC held onto its 1-0 lead going into the halftime break, looking completely in control.
In the second half, the Bruins had a massive opportunity to score in the 67th minute via graduate forward Maya Evans as she turned and attempted to strike the ball with a snap-shot into the bottom left corner. However, USC graduate goalkeeper Laurence Gladu came up with a huge fingertip save to prevent the goal, making her first save of a relatively quiet game in goal.
After the huge save, UCLA did not seriously threaten the USC goal for the remainder of the game, giving USC the opportunity to celebrate a monumental win for the program.
USC was the much more dangerous team going forward with 10 total shots and four on target at the UCLA goal, while also forcing three saves out of Campbell. With more possession and higher quality chances, the Trojans played better than the 1-0 scoreline suggests.
Defensively, the team shut down many of the Bruins’ efforts, allowing only five shots. The second half was relatively more eventful, with Gladu making key saves towards the end of the game as UCLA pushed numbers forward to try and win it. She finished the game with two saves while also commanding the box on corner kicks.
The referee had to issue five yellow cards, meaning the game also lived up to the rivalry stakes in a heated affair. Four of the yellow cards were issued to UCLA, while only one went to the Trojans.
As the game came to a close, the Trojans rushed the field to celebrate their biggest victory of the season so far. With this result, they won their first ever outright conference title in program history and brought their conference win total this season to 10, the most in program history. The victory also clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
“It feels amazing. I’ve never been this excited for a game, and then I was literally in tears after the game. It just means so much to all of us,” Hayes said. “Like Brooklyn [Courtnall] said, we’ve been working so hard, and we just have the belief and confidence in ourselves and in one another that we’re all going to fight for each other and play with our heart and play with our passion.”
Looking ahead, the Trojans will open play in their first ever Big Ten Tournament as the favorites. The tournament will begin at the University of Minnesota for the first round and quarterfinals and will conclude in St. Louis for the semifinals and final.
USC will have a first-round bye with the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of Wisconsin versus Ohio State. The Trojans beat both teams during this regular season and will favor their chances. After the Big Ten Tournament, the Trojans will try their luck in the NCAA Tournament and compete for the program’s potential third national championship.
“I think we can go as far as we push ourselves and as far as we dig deep,” head coach Jane Alukonis said. “[If] everybody takes care of themselves, does the right things, [continues] to act like elite soccer players and just making sure we stick to what we like to do and what we know we can do… then I think the team can go extremely far.”
Beating UCLA in a regular-season title decider was a great accomplishment for the Trojans, but for USC women’s soccer, the job is far from finished.