After a historic regular season for the USC women’s soccer team, the No. 1-seeded Trojans won’t be able to finish their dream run with a national title.
USC and No. 2-seeded Wake Forest were knotted at 2-2 after overtime, but The Trojans fell to the Demon Deacons on penalties 4-3 on Friday.
For head coach Jane Alukonis’ squad, it was the first time in program history that the team went undefeated in conference play, winning the regular season conference championship outright and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, all while playing in the Big Ten for the first time.
With the stands at Dignity Health Sports Park packed full of both USC and Wake Forest fans, the atmosphere encouraged an adrenaline kick at the beginning of the game. Both teams were pressing each other’s defenses aggressively, resulting in sloppy passing and plenty of turnovers.
One of those turnovers resulted in an amazing scoring chance in the fourth minute, as Wake Forest turned the ball over in its own half. The ball popped into the air, falling to USC senior forward Simone Jackson right next to the net. Her volley from point-blank range went straight at Wake Forest’s sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral, who made her first and one of the more important saves of the day.
After a few more missed turnovers that USC failed to capitalize on, Wake Forest received its chance to attack. Senior defender Zara Chavoshi played a beautiful through ball to junior forward Caiya Hanks, who took a touch in the box and powered a shot at a difficult angle to beat graduate goalkeeper Laurence Gladu and give the Demon Deacons a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute.
It was the first time USC had trailed in the entire NCAA Tournament. The last time the Trojans trailed a game was back on September 8, when they lost their only game of the season 2-1 to then No. 1-ranked Stanford.
Both offenses stalled out for the remainder of the first half as both defenses had settled into the match and upped their play.
After USC senior midfielder Maria Alagoa was forced out of the game due to an injury, Alukonis made a few personnel changes at halftime wanting to jumpstart the Trojans’ offense. Those decisions were to sub on two sophomores, midfielder Florianne Jourde and forward Maribel Flores, as well as graduate defender Angeles Escobar.
Alukonis’ decisions came to fruition quickly, with USC scoring two goals in the next 13 minutes to take its first lead of the game.
The Trojans opened up the second half in thrilling fashion, putting one into the back of the net a minute and 23 seconds into the period. After freshman midfielder Ines Derrien played a pass to Flores, the sophomore forward then played a ball up to Jackson. Jackson’s shot in the box deflected off a Wake Forest defender and in for the goal to even the score.
Then, in the 59th minute, senior defender BK Harris sent a through ball up the right side of the pitch to senior forward Kayla Colbert. Colbert decided to cut in on her left foot until she was in front of goal and fired a shot into the bottom right corner to make the score 2-1.
Now with the lead, USC tried to fend off Wake Forest, who kept bearing down on Gladu’s goal and earning corner kick after corner kick. Down by a goal, the Demon Deacons played more physically, resulting in two yellow cards being shown their way after the 70th minute.
Around the 80th minute, USC decided to try and let the ball roll out of bounds for a goal kick. Instead, Hanks rounded the defense and kept the ball inbounds, giving her the opportunity to play a pass to a wide-open junior forward Alex Wood in the box.
Wood, a Huntington Beach native, took a small touch and coolly finished off the shot to level the score at two, earning a big roar from the many Demon Deacon fans that made the trip to Carson.
Both overtime periods failed to provide many scoring opportunities, with USC outshooting Wake Forest just 3-1 across both periods.
As they reached the 110th minute, it became clear that the game would be decided by a penalty shootout. Both teams struggled and lost in penalties during their respective conference tournaments. Wake Forest lost 3-1 on penalties to a then-No. 3-ranked Florida State in the ACC Tournament, while USC fell to a middling Rutgers team 3-0 in the Big Ten Tournament.
On Friday afternoon, after USC missed two penalties and Amaral missed one of her own, the shootout came down to the final shot in a best-of-five shootout. Wake Forest’s senior defender Kristin Johnson stepped up and sent Gladu the wrong way. Her shot hit the net and the Wake Forest fans and team alike erupted knowing their team will head to the College Cup in Cary, North Carolina, where the four remaining teams will square off for the national championship.
For USC, it was the furthest the team has gone in the NCAA Tournament in the Jane Alukonis era, which is now in its third season. In the program’s first year in the Big Ten, they conquered a tough schedule that saw the Trojans win the most road games out of any team this season.
They played more on the road in 2024 because of the construction of Rawlinson Stadium, which will open next season after USC paid $38 million to build a new facility. The Trojans played at four different “home” venues this season, but next season they’ll have a new permanent home as they’ll look to build off an impressive, historic season for the program.