After dominating possession and shot tallies for the first 75 minutes of Friday’s game, women’s soccer had yet to make it count by breaking the scoreless tie.

Then, Oregon (2-8-3, 0-4-2 Big Ten) redshirt senior defender Cailin Bloom nearly sent the Trojans (7-3-1, 4-2-0) home from Eugene, Oregon, disappointed, but her shot was saved by graduate goalie Bella Grust. After the close call, USC sophomore forward Jaiden Anderson took matters into her own hands.

With less than five minutes left, Anderson, from 20 yards out, launched a rocket that snuck past opposing graduate goalkeeper Caeley Goldstein’s outstretched hands to put a dagger in Oregon’s upset hopes and lead the Trojans to a 1-0 win.

“We know we have multiple players who can score goals, and it was one of those games that you weren’t sure who was going to do it, but you felt like the job would get done,” Head Coach Jane Alukonis said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “Really proud of Jaiden, because it takes a lot of belief to be able to hit a game-winner.”

The game continued a renaissance for USC, which has now won three-straight games and four of its last five after a rough 1-3-1 stretch that sent the Trojans spiraling out of the United Soccer Coaches’ top 25. For Anderson, who is second on the team in both goals and points with five and 14, respectively, the goal also symbolized a continuance of her impressive 2025 campaign.

On Friday, USC largely had to play without its stalwart offensive contributor, junior forward Maribel Flores, who played limited time against the Ducks after getting pulled with an apparent leg injury the week before against Rutgers (1-4-1).

“She took a really hard knock,” Alukonis said of Flores’ status. “Everything is okay, but out of caution, she couldn’t return to that game, just based on how hard she was hit. Everything checked out okay. There was just swelling and stiffness and all of that, so she’s good to go.”

After games against Maryland (2-3-0) and Rutgers the weekend before where USC scored in the first ten minutes of play  — both on either an assist or goal from Flores — the scoring drought Friday was jarring. Though the Trojans outshot the Ducks 15-9, many of USC’s first-half shots were from a distance as Oregon took a heavily defensive approach, limiting the Trojans’ opportunity to take short-range shots. 

“We faced a fairly tricky challenge where Oregon sat very defensively trying to keep all 11 players behind the ball for a lot of the game, and they had quite a few decent counterattack looks,” Alukonis said. “I am proud of the group for toughing it out and finding a way to get the result, even with some challenges that may have been frustrating.”

USC held possession for 64% of the game. It relied on patient passing to maintain control rather than take risky chances against the Ducks, who focused their efforts on blocking off any big offensive strikes from the Trojans.

“We always prefer to dominate possession, but you have to emphasize creating dangerous chances,” Alukonis said. “Human nature, I always say, is to be a little impulsive, and we always emphasize similar things across our back six, which is patience and circulation and trying to open up something that will result in a high rate of conversion chance.”

Next up for the Trojans is a bout against Minnesota (5-6-1, 1-4-1) at 5 p.m. Oct. 9 at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in Minneapolis.