Soccer changes tide with three consecutive victories

Women’s soccer won back-to-back matches over Michigan and Western Michigan, managing two consecutive clean sheets after two losses early in the season. 

After their convincing 4-2 win over Utah Valley last Saturday, the Trojans beat the Wolverines in overtime with a hard-fought, narrow 1-0 victory. Despite Michigan’s barrage of shots, USC’s defense, headed by senior goalkeeper Anna Smith’s heroics, kept the Wolverines at bay during regulation time. 

The Trojans endured trials and tribulations during the first half at the U-M Soccer Stadium, facing 14 shots compared to their six attempts. In the seventh minute, referee Marc Lawrence pointed to the penalty spot and awarded Michigan a penalty-kick.

Smith proceeded to deny Michigan’s fifth year senior midfielder Sarah Stratigakis, diving to her left and safely securing the ball — one of Smith’s career-high 11 saves against the Wolverines.

Head coach Keidane McAlpine praised Anna Smith’s integral performance Friday night.  

“In games like these, where the margins are really small, you need your goalkeeper to come up with at least one big save,” McAlpine said. “It’s massive to get that kind of performance, and I think [it] not only gives our team but gives [Smith] more confidence.” 

After quelling Michigan’s offense in the second half, USC entered the first overtime period with a second wind. Seven minutes into extra-time, redshirt senior forward Jada Talley delivered a floating cross from the corner to the back post where freshman midfielder Aaliyah Farmer connected with a towering header and converted the winning goal. Farmer added to her second tally, providing her second goal in four games. 

Before USC’s conference showdown with Michigan, the Trojans were amid a losing record after suffering losses against Pepperdine and BYU in their opening two fixtures. However, McAlpine observed progress in the team’s performance against Michigan.

“One of the things we’re happy to see is some growth; each game we are getting a little bit better at weathering the storm,” he said. “Tonight was a true
example of that.”

The Trojans continued their winning ways with another victory against Western Michigan, notching a 5-0 performance. 

Senior forward Penelope Hocking started the affair early with a third-minute tap-in goal assisted by redshirt senior midfielder Savannah DeMelo. The Trojans subsequently out-shot Western Michigan 16-3 in the first half.

Hocking continued her scoring ways with a merely identical goal assisted by senior midfielder Madeline Vergura in the 59th minute. In the 72nd
minute, junior midfielder Croix Bethune increased USC’s lead with a chipped goal over Western Michigan’s shot-stopper, Lauren Boafo, after a ground pass from junior forward Hannah White. 

White converted her first goal of the season with a shot toward the top left of the box, touching the back of the net in the 73rd minute. Freshman midfielder Simi Awujo ended the scoring barrage with a ground shot into the bottom right corner in the 83rd minute. 

Despite only playing 35 minutes, Hocking ended the match with two goals and six shot attempts. 

“Coming off the big win in the Michigan game, I think we were all pretty stoked, and we wanted to keep it going,” she said. “Our team really felt what it felt like to have a big win, and we let that motivate us going into the next game. That was a belief in ourselves that we are really good and we have the potential to be really good.”

The Trojans currently have a 3-2-0 record after completing a turnaround by amassing three consecutive victories all away from the Coliseum. 

“Team morale is really high, the Pepperdine and BYU [games were] pretty bad losses. It’s super motivating to come off of some big wins,” Hocking said. “Something that is really
important for us going into this next weekend is to not be complacent.”

Women’s soccer team will look to finish off their stretch of away games with a Thursday night victory against University of California,  Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. at the Harder Stadium.

The Trojans next home game is against California State University at Northridge.