Women’s soccer dominates in Oregon road trip

Women’s soccer shutout Oregon Sunday afternoon, securing their second straight victory on the road as they defeated the Ducks 4-0.

The No. 20 Trojans’ two victories on the road this weekend, the first being their Thursday night defeat of Oregon State, elevates USC to 3-0 in Pac-12 play. 

The Trojans’ offensive explosion prompted victory: The Trojans scored 4 goals against Oregon, which followed their 5-goal performance against Oregon State. It took only 9 minutes for the Trojans to get on the board Sunday when senior midfielder Croix Bethune scored on a penalty kick. 

“​​I was glad that we converted early, so that we could just manage and get a lot of players in,” said Head Coach Jane Alukonis. 

The Trojans scored twice more in the first half: Sophomore midfielder Aaliyah Farmer scored in the 33rd minute, assisted by sophomore midfielder Simi Awujo and sophomore midfielder Helena Sampaio, and Bethune scored her second goal in the 37th minute, assisted by Farmer and sophomore forward/defender Kayla Colbert. The Trojans’ only second half goal came in the 565th minute from Colbert, who was assisted by Bethune and Awujo.

“We have just been working really well together,” Alukonis said of the Trojans’ fluid offensive performance. “We try to train players who play together, next to each other, often.”

The Trojans’ offense has not only been more productive in the past games, but also more diverse. Six different Trojans have notched goals in the past two games: Bethune and Colbert also scored against Oregon State, and were joined by Awujo, sophomore forward Simone Jackson , and senior forward Hannah White.

“The adjustments came back when we played Irvine,” Alukonis said. “After the Nebraska tie, we knew we needed to change things up, shake things up, and since then I think the team has done really well working together to combine to create goals.”

The Trojans leave Oregon undefeated in the last eight games, and victories in their last four. Their last tie game was on Sept. 11 against Nebraska.   

The Trojans’ win streak is also due to the incredible work of their defense, which has allowed only two goals in three matches against Pac-12 opponents and shut out Oregon.

“Trying to get our distances and level of pressure right, and always having a plan of how we want to defend the opponent, I think it has been a really good team effort in that department,” Alukonis said. “But also, we keep improving and need to keep improving to close down the opponent even more and tighten up the spaces even more.”

The Trojans’ defense allowed only seven shots against Oregon, with only two on goal, compared to the 26 total shots generated on offense. 

Following their two-game road trip, the Trojans face a short rest period before a two-game homestand next weekend against Arizona on Thursday and Arizona State Sunday afternoon. 

“At the beginning of the season, we map out our entire season’s periodization so that each day has an appropriate amount of load, not too much, not too little,” Alukonis said. “We also always look at minutes, how players feel, how much they’re sleeping and all of that, and make sure we try to get them as fresh and rested as possible.”

To prepare, the Trojans will face a light work week to ensure they are fresh and ready to continue to dominate conference play.

“This is one of the odd training weeks,” Alukonis said. “We’ll see it often, but you take tomorrow to recover and you take Tuesday off, and then you have a preparative training on Wednesday. Super quick turnaround, where we’ll do more learning in the classroom rather than a ton on the field.”

Still, the Trojans are ready to face the challenge ahead.

“Every game we come into knowing the opponent will give us a very hard-fought, tough game,” Alukonis said. “Continuing to build on what we have been doing, so creating the attack, working together, overall defensive organization and just tighter pressure on the ball [will be key].”