Soccer ready for crucial Arizona trip

No. 5 USC women’s soccer travels east later this week to take on Arizona State and Arizona as it looks to bounce back from a 3-2 loss to Stanford in the Pac-12 opener. 

USC’s last three games have been tough to watch for Trojan fans. After its disappointing loss to the No. 2 Cardinal, the Trojans are looking to get their mojo back.

After taking a couple of days to digest the game against Stanford, head coach Keidane McAlpine said USC had chances down the stretch to tie things up but failed to capitalize on several second half opportunities.

“We just have to execute better,” McAlpine said. “I didn’t think we executed what we had worked on in the week very well, and even with that, we were in the game and had moments where we should have tied the game up.” 

McAlpine mentioned the importance of learning from the Stanford loss yet shifting focus to this weekend as the Trojans play their first Pac-12 road contests in the desert.  

“The good thing for us is our goal strictly is to get better week to week,” he said. “So sometimes, you actually learn more in losses and ties than you do in wins. So we’ve had two weeks where we can legitimately take some information from both games to provide us with more understanding of who we are [and] where we are right now moving into Arizona State and Arizona.” 

The Trojans will face a strong Arizona State team Thursday. McAlpine identified his attackers as an advantage for the Trojans against a 6-2-2 Sun Devil squad. 

“Our advantage will always be with our two-front,” he said of junior forward Tara McKeown and sophomore forward Penelope Hocking. “They are scoring goals with regularity. That for us is definitely a plus against anyone.”

McAlpine emphasized the need to stop Sun Devils sophomore forward/midfielder Marleen Schimmer and to win the possession battle against ASU. 

“For us, we’ve gotta deal with their 27 [Schimmer],” he said. “She strikes the ball way better than most players out there. They are a very good possession team, very much like Stanford. We’re going to have to weather the storm when they have the ball and be patient in our defending.”

The Sun Devils are coming off a 2-2 tie with Utah, who are currently ranked ahead of ASU by 56 spots in the NCAA RPI poll. It was an encouraging start to the conference schedule for ASU. On the other hand, Arizona opened up its league play with a 2-1 loss to Colorado in a double overtime contest. 

Not only will the Trojans be challenged by two good squads in Arizona, but they will also have to face the heat. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s for both kickoff times as of now, and the Trojans will have to be mentally and physically prepared to endure the conditions. 

When asked about the upcoming matchups, McAlpine said one of the games would be more difficult to handle than the other. 

“[With] the Arizona State game being at night, I think that will help us,” McAlpine said. “It will be similar to the Baylor game, so we’ve experienced it. The noon kick in Arizona is probably going to be the hardest one already coming off a game.”

With the Trojans in the loss column to open up Pac-12 play, McAlpine said it’s important to pick up two wins in Arizona and get the Trojans back to their winning ways. 

“Every game is important in this stretch for our long term goals, for our short term goals,” he said. “You are always looking for a split on the road at the very least, but for us now being down one … trying to get back toward the top, it would be very beneficial to get both.”

The Trojans face Arizona State Thursday at 7 p.m. before taking on Arizona Sunday at 1 p.m.