Women’s soccer rolls on, wins eighth straight match
USC women’s soccer continued its hot streak on Thursday, as the No. 9 Women of Troy traveled to Oregon and beat the Ducks 3-1 for their eighth consecutive win. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme set a new program record by going 729 minutes without conceding a goal, handily beating the previous high mark of 655 minutes.
Sarah Kim | Daily Trojan
Right out of the gate · Junior midfielder Sydney Sladek scored just a minute into the second half against Oregon, the first of two quick strikes.
The Women of Troy went end-to-end with the Ducks throughout the game, with both teams’ offenses challenging the opposition’s backline. But the Trojan front applied consistent pressure to the Oregon defense and looked threatening from the start.
USC broke the deadlock when redshirt senior Katie Johnson fought off a gang of Ducks and threaded a pass through the Oregon defense, releasing redshirt junior Alex Anthony in the penalty box. Junior goalkeeper Halla Hinriksdottir cut Anthony down, giving the Women of Troy a penalty. Senior Morgan Andrews stepped up and froze Hinriksdottir from the spot to put USC in the lead 20 minutes in.
Neither side scored for the rest of the first half, and the Women of Troy entered the intermission holding a 1-0 lead. It took less than three minutes after the restart for them to land the knockout blow to the Ducks.
Sophomore Leah Pruitt set up USC’s second goal when she charged down the left flank in the 46th minute and sliced the ball to Sydney Sladek at the edge of the 18-yard box. The junior midfielder uncorked a laser, hitting the top right corner to double the lead.
Almost immediately following Sladek’s goal, Andrews notched her second score of the game with another long-range effort from outside the 18-yard box. Pruitt got behind the defense and passed to Andrews, who took one touch on her teammate’s cutback before firing past Hinriksdottir again. Barely into the 47th minute, USC had suddenly tripled its half-time advantage.
Oregon responded to the Trojan outburst, ending Prudhomme’s shutout streak in the 76th minute. Sophomore Taylor Kuroda pounced on the loose ball when a corner pinballed around the penalty box, and she scored a consolation goal for the Ducks. Despite the end of the streak, Prudhomme still enjoyed a strong day in net, recording five saves, and the Women of Troy comfortably saw out the 3-1 victory.
The win put USC at 8-2 on the season and 2-0 in Pac-12 play. Arguably one of the hottest teams in the country right now, the Women of Troy will shoot for nine in a row on Sunday, when they travel to Corvallis to take on Oregon State.