No. 5 women’s soccer takes on UCLA at Stubhub Center
Emily Smith | Daily Trojan
Back with a vengeance · After redshirting last season due to injury, redshirt senior Katie Johnson has not missed a beat, bolstering the Trojans’ frontline. She is tied for second on the team with in goals with seven.
The No. 5 Trojans are reaching the end of the road, with only one more game left before the regular season ends and the journey to the NCAA championship begins. And this season will end with a rivalry, as the team takes on UCLA at the Stubhub Center on Friday.
It’s a high-stakes matchup to finish on. The Bruins, ranked No. 18 in the country and sixth in Pac-12, stumbled late in the season in back-to-back road games. But with freshman midfielder Jessie Fleming — a starter for the Canadian national team — and a well-spread offense finding steady success throughout the year, the team has proved that they can bring the heat.
And Friday night, two games will decide the winner of the Pac-12 Tournament. Trailing Stanford by 2 points, the Trojans must win no matter what. But if Stanford falls or ties in their game against Cal, the Trojans will take home their first Pac-12 Championship title in program history.
No matter how the night goes, head coach Keidane McAlpine feels confident in his team.
“I think they’re right where they need to be,” McAlpine said. “This whole season has felt like we’ve come together at the right time. We’ve learned and adapted and had our growing moments at the right time.”
It’s been a showstopper season for the Trojans, with conference and national accolades pouring in from the first week of play. Defensively, redshirt senior goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme has reshaped her backline into a stalwart wall that holds off attacking forwards ranked in the top echelons of the nation.
They started young and shaky, with Prudhomme and senior Mandy Freeman struggling to wrangle a squad of freshmen and sophomores with a lack of chemistry. The team gave up four goals in two games to kick off the year, with both losses coming unexpectedly to unranked programs meant to serve as exhibition matches.
In the past, the Trojans lived and died by their backline. But at the start of the season, McAlpine made it clear — this year, that wouldn’t be the case.
In many ways, that was true. With redshirt senior Katie Johnson returning from an injury and multiple transfers adding depth, the Trojans’ frontline found its rhythm. Eleven players found the back of the net, with redshirt junior Alex Anthony leading with nine goals, and Johnson and senior Morgan Andrews following with seven apiece.
The offensive onslaught almost overshadowed a sudden and definitive transformation on defense. Prudhomme and her line shut out Pepperdine, then Georgia and Auburn on the road.
The team strung together eight shutouts before Oregon finally snuck a goal in during a 3-1 road win for the Trojans. In total, the defense earned 12 shutouts through 18 games. Prudhomme was only scored on six times.
Last year, the Trojans boasted a similar level of defensive fortitude while struggling to finish on the attack. This year, it hasn’t been an issue at all — and it’s this balance of play that is bolstering the Trojans’ confidence as they begin to look ahead to championship play.
“I think you can see the confidence just in the way they’re playing [and] the way they’re coming into every game,” McAlpine said. “We’ve seen the pieces start to come together throughout the season but now, this is really where we have to lock in and play our ball and see if we have what it takes to make our mark nationally.”