On a chilly night at Rawlinson Stadium, the Trojans fell to the Nebraska Cornhuskers by the score of 3-2.
The theme of the night for the Trojans was missed chances. Early on, junior forward Maribel Flores hit a strike just wide of the right post, marking the first big chance of the game.
Soon after, the Cornhuskers took control of the game, with three big chances in a span of 10 minutes before finally breaking through after junior midfielder Ella Rudney launched a rocket from 20 yards out into the top left corner to make it 1-0.
The pressure didn’t stop there, with Nebraska keeping it up for 15 more minutes, wasting two chances, a period that almost cost the Huskers dearly.
The Trojans were on their heels, but in the 40th minute, USC scraped a corner kick and after a fortunate bounce off a Nebraska defender, the ball fell onto senior defender Molly McDougal’s right foot. McDougal took full advantage and fired a bullet into the back of the net from nine yards out.
After the equalizer, the game opened up, with a chaotic final five minutes to the half.
The Trojans won a free kick near center field. The ball was lofted into the box and after a first effort was saved, sophomore midfielder Ines Simas tapped it into an empty net to give the Trojans what they thought was a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, after a video review, the goal was called back due to Simas being in an offside position.
Just three minutes later in the 44th minute, the Huskers whipped in a cross from the left side of the box. It fell onto the head of freshman defender Mila Brach, who lofted it home into the left side of the net, just outside of the reach of USC graduate goalkeeper Bella Grust.
After halftime, the action picked up right where it left off. In the 48th minute on a quick counter attack, Nebraska played another cross into the middle of the box that bent around both USC center backs, finding the foot of junior forward Kayma Carpenter. She slotted it to the right of the Trojan keeper from 12 yards out.
Now down 3-1, most teams would feel defeated and give up – but not USC.
Just 10 minutes later USC cut the deficit back to one after Flores’ unbelievable run past five defenders from center-field to the top of the box. Flores fired a shot over the head of Nebraska senior keeper Cece Villa.
After the game, USC head coach Jane Alukonis described the goal as “an incredible strike.”
Down one goal with 30 minutes to play, the Trojans had one mission for the rest of the game, all out attack. In the final half hour of play, they generated nine big chances, but couldn’t convert on any of them.
There were two very notable chances that USC will certainly want back. The first was a rapid counter attack leading to a three on two situation before a pass was played slightly behind the feet of sophomore forward Jaiden Anderson, who could only drag it at the keeper from point blank range.
The second and best chance to equalize for the Trojans was generated after a beautiful display of passing from Maribel Flores and Jaiden Anderson, leading to a wide open chance on the back post for sophomore forward Faith George, who couldn’t get a shot off in time.
When asked about how her team fought back at the end of the game, Coach Alukonis simply responded, “You’ve gotta fight for 90 minutes.”
Although their comeback effort fell just short, the Trojans have two more opportunities in the regular season to end their campaign strong. They host No. 5 Iowa this Sunday at home and travel across town next weekend to face their biggest rival, the UCLA Bruins.