Soccer’s win streak breaks with tie at Baylor


Sophomore defender Ashley Soto contributed the cross for the Trojans’ first score against Baylor. (Daily Trojan file photo)

The USC women’s soccer team is perfect no more — but the Trojans remain unbeaten. 

No. 2 USC tied with unranked Baylor 2-2 in its final non-conference match Friday in Waco, Texas. 

The Trojans came into the game with the program’s all-time best start to a season at 7-0-0, and it was business as usual to open up the game. 

Baylor narrowly survived the first wave of USC attacks as the Trojans failed to convert on numerous opportunities to open the game. 

Head coach Keidane McAlpine made a few adjustments, and the first goal of the night came from the bench for the visitors. Sophomore defender Ashley Soto found freshman midfielder Jaelyn Eisenhart  for a header, and the Trojans took a 1-0 lead close to the end of the first half. 

Junior forward Penelope Hocking continued her incredible start to the season as she found the back of the net yet again, bringing her total to 7 goals this year. Freshman midfielder Olufolasade Adamolekun picked up her second assist of the year on the play. 

McAlpine praised his team’s first-half play as USC continued its streak of eight straight games with multiple goals. 

“I thought we started the game extremely well today,” McAlpine said in an interview on the team’s Twitter after the game. 

With both of Baylor’s leading goal scorers not in uniform, USC seemed primed going into halftime to extend its perfect run. But Baylor head coach Paul Jobson knew the Bears had their backs up against the wall. He told the Waco Tribune Herald about the necessity to find goals outside their two top scorers after the game. 

“When [senior forwards Camryn Wendlandt] and Raegan [Padgett], your two leading goal scorers, are out, you wonder where you’re going to generate some goal-scoring,” Jobson said.

But the Bears were able to overcome the absences in the second half. It only took 10 minutes for sophomore forward Elena Reyna to squeeze one past goalkeeper Anna Smith to shrink the USC lead to 1. 

Baylor continued to play ultra-aggressively in the second half, outshooting USC 11-6 and finding the back of the net one more time when sophomore midfielder Giuliana Cunningham equalized the game with 30 minutes to play. 

USC was lucky to get out of the second half and into overtime. As time expired, Cunningham’s strike hit the post, and the rebound fell to Reyna, whose shot flew over the crossbar. 

“I was extremely disappointed with the way we played that second half,” McAlpine said. “I didn’t think we rose to the level of [Baylor’s] intensity, and we let them get back into the game that we had under control. That’s something we’ve got to get better at.”

In the first overtime, Baylor controlled the tempo, and Reyna had an opportunity that ricocheted off the right post as the Trojans barely avoided their first loss of the season.

USC picked up play toward the end of overtime and outshot the Bears 6-3 in extra time. It took two big saves from Baylor junior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt to secure a tie for the Bears. McKeown shot a dart toward the goal and Hocking had a one-on-one, but Wandt saved both shots. 

Despite the tie, the Trojans still finished non-conference play at a program-best 7-0-1 while Baylor continues its non-conference play at 4-2-3.

With No. 3 Stanford visiting McAlister Field and a rocky last two non-conference games for the Trojans, McAlpine’s team must learn from these games and move forward. 

“This was great preparation going into conference play,” McAlpine told USC Athletics. “We’ll take that, and we’ll move forward.”

USC will open conference play this Saturday against Stanford at 1 p.m. on its home turf.