A heat wave is forecasted to slam the Southwest this week as No. 22 USC (9-2-1, 5-0-1 Pac-12)  aspires to relight its fire Thursday at Arizona State.

When time expired Saturday, the Trojans found themselves in a 1-1 tie with Colorado. The draw put an end to the Trojans’ six-game win streak, tying them with Stanford for second place in the Pac-12. The draw dropped their NCAA ranking from No. 13 to No. 22.

Regardless of the outcome, the Trojans stuck to their game plan and performed well. They outshot the Buffaloes 19 to 9, and junior forward Kayla Colbert scored her sixth goal of the season less than three minutes into the game. Prior to the match, USC was 6-0-0 when striking first.

Colorado was only allowed one successful penalty kick as sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Dickinson secured a crucial save in the 30th minute of the match. Since receiving her first start in mid-September, Dickinson has risen to third in the Pac-12 with a save percentage of over 81%. Dickinson also earned her first Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week award Oct. 9 when she secured two shutouts on the road in Oregon.

USC hasn’t scored in its last 87 minutes of play, its longest drought this month. Seeing that the Trojans have outscored opponents 7-0 following their two losses, they’re expected to go balls-to-the-walls (or net) in their bounce-back match against ASU (9-2-4, 4-1-1).

The Sun Devils have lost seven of their last eight matches to USC. With Assistant Coach Sugar Shinohara — a former assistant at ASU — leading the scouting, the Trojans are keen on maintaining their dominance.

Arizona State sits in fourth place in the Pac-12 and is led by sophomore midfielder Enasia Colon. Colon is the second leading goal scorer in the Pac-12 this season with nine goals and 22 points. Last season, she converted the Sun Devils’ lone standing goal in their loss against USC.

“Fool me once, but she’s not going to fool us twice,” Head Coach Jane Alukonis said. “We definitely have a close eye on her and we’ll make sure that we don’t give her a window to shoot.”

USC and ASU sit atop the Pac-12 shot percentage rankings at 16% and 15%, respectively. On the road, the Trojans’ success rate is even stronger: Their shot conversion rate increases from 15% to 20% at away games despite them taking an average of 7.2 more shots per game at home than on the road. 

“The number of shots is not as important to us as is the quality in terms of conversion for those shots.” Alukonis said. “[We’re] always happy if we get a lot of shots off, but we take a deep dive.”

When reviewing film, the Trojans identify whether a shot is an “A shot, B shot or C shot based on the likelihood of converting.” This practice allows the team to shoot with intention and better position itself for successful sequences.

From shutouts to goal count, through each stretch, the Trojans have shown and maintained exceptional growth this season. In August, they allowed five goals and have only let up five more since. They’ve also experienced a linear increase in shots from month to month with 36 in August, 56 in September and 76 this month.

Such compounding success is largely resulting from the team’s depth. The Trojans have spread the wealth with 10 different goal scorers and 15 players recording a point — only No. 9 UCLA and No. 6 Stanford surpass them in that regard. 

USC is also well-balanced with both freshman and experienced upperclassmen. Top Drawer Soccer released the highest-ranked freshmen Tuesday. Forward Maribel Flores, forward Florianne Jourde and defender Alyssa Gonzalez each cracked the Top 100 at No. 12, No. 85 and No. 89, respectively.

“They should all be higher,” Alukonis said. “One of the main things I was told when I got the job here is recruiting is the main priority because that’s the future, the lifeline and everything that your program is going to be in the coming year.”

Although it’ll be a first for USC’s top freshmen, the Trojans are eager to see some familiar faces on the other side in their prospective scorching of the desert. 

“It’s always nice to play games against staff that you really respect and enjoy,” Alukonis said. “We don’t expect any easy moments because [Arizona State is] a good, very well-coached team.”

The highly touted Trojans will take on Arizona State Thursday at 7 p.m. at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.