On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Felix Field,  the USC men’s club soccer team took to the pitch to lock horns against Cal Poly Slo’s men’s club team in the SoCal Premier League. Fielding a new roster and donning an all-white jersey, USC was ready to open its spring season at home.

“I love the mental fortitude to come back from two goals down twice,” Head Coach Nicholas Leach said.

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The Trojans (0-1-2 SCPL) found themselves down by 0-1 in the sixth minute when a corner taken by Cal Poly (1-1-3 SCPL) was finished by senior forward Mike McMasters. Fourteen minutes later, USC conceded another goal by a corner. This time, unmarked senior striker Rory Folan calmly headed the ball into the net.

“We thought we had the momentum and momentum kind of shifted,” said co-captain and junior midfielder Jack Crawford. “Realistically, we tried to keep ahead of time, try to keep the momentum for ourselves and put up the heart and try to get the result.”

Trailing by 0-2, Leach brought on senior striker Mario Jauregui Jr. and senior midfielder Rasheed Tarhuni. Both these substitutions proved to be game changers later on. With the game equally resistant between the teams, Jauregui’s substitution paved the way through the defense of Cal Poly.

In the 28th minute, USC was awarded a penalty when freshman defender Chinedu Orji was brought down by a defender. Senior striker Elliott Meeks capitalized on a rebound from his missed penalty to score for the Trojans.

USC ended the first half with more shots on target and possession while Cal Poly scored two in two of its set pieces.

It took USC five minutes to equalize in the second half when Jauregui was fouled inside the penalty box and Tarhuni slotted the ball into the far left of the frame to level the score. At this point, it could’ve been anyone’s game.

Six minutes later, the Trojans freshman goalkeeper Chan Nin Zhao fouled Cal Poly’s senior striker Lautaro Perez Blua and subsequently conceded a penalty which was shot precisely by Blua.

In the 65th minute, Folan attempted an improbable shot, only for it to deflect off another player and lob over the Trojans’ Zhao. With the score being 4-2 in favor of Cal Poly, its bench was sure about the win with 25 minutes to go.

Cal Poly seemed to have a comfortable lead, but it felt the need to keep up the pace; a wonderful one-two between co-captain and sophomore striker Edward Insley and Tarhuni set up junior midfielder Sean Snelder to slot the ball past Green to make it 4-3 for the Trojans.

Twelve minutes later, the ball fumbled into the Cal Poly penalty box and fell into a rumble of players with Jauregui rising out of the trenches to put a finishing touch past the goalkeeper. As the net rippled, the USC bench erupted, sending a shockwave of jubilation among the team and the 70  supporters on the bleachers.

“It feels good. This was probably one of the most attended games that we’ve had in a while,” Insley said. “Usually it’s about 20 to 30, and it’s really cool to see that other students and family are coming out to watch. It’s just a great experience.”

The final whistle concluded the game at 4-4. The Trojans, satisfied with their performance, showed determination by coming back twice in the tie.

“Obviously, as we ended the game, we may have tied but I feel like it was a good win for us as a team working forward,” Jauregui said.

Plenty of players and fans showed out Saturday, signifying the passion for soccer at USC, especially in Southern California. Yet, there’s no Division I NCAA men’s soccer team.

“There’s a certain level of passion that can come out in club sports, there’s something very unique to it because all of these guys want to do this,” Leach said. “Some players are even sacrificing other things in order to do this.”

The USC men’s club soccer team plays UC Irvine (1-1-1) away Feb. 10 before returning back home Feb. 17 against UC Riverside (1-0-3).