No. 3 USC gets bounce-back win against No. 2 UC Berkeley
No. 3 USC kicked off play in the MPSF Saturday with a 13-7 win against UC Berkeley, handing the Golden Bears their first loss of the season.
Coming off a heartbreaking loss last week, losing to UCLA in the game’s final 23 seconds, the Trojans came back and got a hard-fought win by a comfortable margin. The two teams traded goals throughout the first period, with neither side getting ahead for too long. Then, in a six-minute stretch from the end of the first period to the end of the second period, USC rattled off 4 consecutive goals. From then on, the Trojans stayed firmly in the lead and never let it get closer than 3 goals the rest of the game. The result marked only the third time in the last 10 years that USC has beaten Cal by 6 goals or more.
All season, Head Coach Marko Pintaric has preached strong defensive presence, and on Saturday, Pintaric felt that they executed.
“A minor adjustment defensively [was] to not allow the ball to move freely, and once we went into a zone defense, and to really give our goalie a chance and not allow high percentage shots,” Pintaric said. “Confidence comes from playing good defense, and, overall, I liked the confidence [today].”
The defense was once again anchored by junior goalie Carolyne Stern in her third consecutive start this season. She finished the game with 5 saves and 1 assist. Having alternated previously throughout the season with redshirt junior goalie Erin Tharp, Stern appears to have a hold on the starting spot for now.
“This is my third year, and I’ve been working really hard, so now that I’m finally able to play and be a starting goalie, it’s really awesome,” Stern said. “This was a really big win … and I’m super excited for next weekend and all the other weekends to come.”
USC continued its outpouring of offense against the Golden Bears, scoring in double digits for the eighth time in its last nine games. Three Trojans scored a hat trick: redshirt junior driver Paige Hauschild, redshirt sophomore 2-meter Tilly Kearns and senior driver Grace Tehaney.
Hauschild now has 18 goals on the season, following her return to USC after leaving for two years to play for the United States National Team.
“I think we’re still working out some kinks and things. Obviously it’s really early on in the season, but I think today was a great momentum builder for us,” Hauschild said. “[Last weekend’s loss] was a great learning experience, and we made a lot of adjustments … and were able to implement changes today and come out on top.”
The Trojans are preparing for the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, where they will meet many of the top-ranked teams in the country. They will start off the weekend Friday against No. 18 Loyola Marymont at 12:30 p.m.