Women’s soccer has streak snapped in rematch against San Diego

A trip to San Diego for a rematch with the University of San Diego finally cooled off the No. 16 USC women’s soccer team, ending its six-game winning streak and handing the Women of Troy only their second loss of the season.

On target · Junior defender Ashley Freyer and the Women of Troy outshot the Toreros on Friday but could not find the back of the net. - Tim Tran | Daily Trojan

For the second time this year, the University of San Diego Toreros (6-4-2) defeated the Women of Troy (7-2-2) 1-0, to sweep the season series between the two teams.

Like its previous two games against Gonzaga and Eastern Washington, USC was yet again plagued by a slow start, which allowed the Toreros the opportunity to take advantage of play and control the tempo of the game.

Torero midfielder Taylor Housley found the back of the net in the 33rd minute of the first half, but not before the ball bounced off the post and deflected off freshman goalkeeper Shelby Church.

“I thought we played well in the second half, but we came out a little flat in the first half,” USC coach Ali Khosroshahin said. “We dug ourselves a hole and we couldn’t climb out of it.”

In the second half, the Women of Troy noticeably picked up their play and had plenty of opportunities to tie the game and even seize the lead.

They outshot the Toreros 10-8 throughout the course of the game, but San Diego goalkeeper Courtney Parsons denied the Women of Troy any chance of a comeback, posting her fifth shutout of the season and ensuring the lone goal in the first half was all the Toreros would need to come away with the victory.

“We were clearly the better team today, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” junior midfielder Brittany Kerridge said.

The Toreros are the only team to defeat USC this season, and it was the first loss for the team in its last 10 games.

According to junior defender Karter Haug, the Women of Troy can look at this loss as a learning experience that will only help them later on down the road, especially in conference play.

“I think it’s a wake-up call and it’s going to help us grow,” Haug said. “It’s good as we head into Pac-10 play because those teams will be tougher.”

Moving into conference play next weekend against the Stanford Cardinal, Khosroshahin said the team will need to put forth a strong effort for the entire game, rather than just play in spurts.

“Hopefully the team realizes that every team we play is going to play out of their minds against us and we can’t be off at all,” Khosroshahin said. “We have to start the game the way we’re capable of and finish the game the same way.”