USC women’s soccer squeezes by Ohio State in overtime

After a hard-fought 90 minutes of soccer in Minnesota, No. 4 USC women’s soccer only needed 80 seconds of overtime to snatch a victory over No. 10 Ohio State and move onto the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

Freshman forward Jaiden Anderson was the hero in Minneapolis for USC, slipping a shot just past Ohio State’s junior goalkeeper Molly Pritchard to score her second-ever collegiate goal and one of the most important goals of the Trojans’ season so far.

USC’s scoring sequence started with junior defender Molly McDogual playing a perfectly powered pass at the top of the box to senior midfielder Maria Alagoa. Alagoa then sent in a low, driven cross from the right side to the middle of the box into senior forward Maile Hayes.

Hayes played a one-time backheel pass straight into the foot of Anderson, who tapped it right to Pritchard’s glove. Pritchard couldn’t stop the quick shot and it slowly rolled into the net off the deflection.

Buckeyes players dropped to the ground in frustration while Trojan players rejoiced, almost an exact replica image after senior forward Simone Jackson’s late goal gave USC a 1-0 victory over Ohio State a few weeks prior in BMO Stadium.

Was Alagoa’s pass really a pass or was it a shot? The same question could be asked about Hayes’ backheel. Did Anderson mean to shoot or was it a deflection? Watching the replay, a viewer could summon all those questions, but none of USC’s players would care.

All that mattered was the result for the Trojans, who have mastered the art of grinding out wins in tough conditions. They’ve been doing this all season, recording the most road wins out of any team in women’s soccer this season.

Fortune also favors the bold, and this time it favored USC head coach and Big Ten Coach of the Year Jane Alukonis. After USC dominated the end of the second half, Aluknois ditched her usual 4-3-3 formation for overtime and decided to start both her strikers in Anderson and Hayes. It worked immediately, with both players working off each other well.

USC came out firing for overtime, but the first half was relatively lackluster by the Trojans’ usual standards. Both teams had trouble creating good shooting opportunities on net with a lot of their possession focused around the backlines or midfield.

Ohio State freshman midfielder Jacinda Bonham had the best chance of either team in that first half, rocketing a shot from outside the box that reverberated off the crossbar around the 12th minute.

Tied 0-0 at the half, Ohio State dominated possession to start the second half. The Buckeyes forced the Trojans to play from their heels and scramble to clear the ball away under pressure.

Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they just couldn’t get past the brick-wall tandem of sophomore defender Alyssa Gonzalez and senior defender Brooklyn Courtnall, who snuffed out any opportunity for an OSU shot.

USC’s best scoring chance in the second half came in the 82nd minute, when freshman midfielder Ines Derrien hammered a shot from the top left area of the 18-yard box. It hit Pritchard’s gloves and bounced off the crossbar before moving out of harm’s way for Ohio State.

After the Buckeyes’ domination to begin the second half, the momentum shifted to the Trojans late in the game as they kept plastering shots at Pritchard, hoping she would break. USC had 14 total shots and five on goal in the second half, a much higher tally than its five shots and two on net in the first half.

Noticing the stark difference, Alukonis upped the pressure on Ohio State in overtime and the Trojans only needed one shot to seal the deal.

The traveling Trojans will move to another new venue for their semifinal against Rutgers on Thursday, November 7, which will take place at MLS side St. Louis City’s CityPark. The Scarlet Knights are one of the better Big Ten teams USC has yet to face.