After a blowout loss Thursday night against Michigan State, USC soccer returned to Rawlinson Stadium on Sunday hoping to secure a win against its next Big Ten opponent, Purdue. While the game was filled with back-and-forth between the two competitive teams, the Boilermakers ultimately took the win with two gut-punching goals at the end of the match.

As aggressive as USC (1-5-2, 0-2-0 Big Ten) was on both sides of the field, its downfall was failing to answer on offense and finish the job. The Boilermakers (7-1-1, 1-1) capitalized on the Trojans’ struggles, outplaying them in the final moments of the second half.

A former USC player, junior forward Jaiden Anderson returned to Rawlinson for the first time since transferring after the 2025 season and scored the game-winning goal. USC couldn’t bounce back, resulting in another shutout loss — its fourth of the season.

Trojan offense stays intense despite lack of scoring

Initially, USC brought the pressure in the first half, constantly gaining back possession and passing the ball with efficiency. Purdue realized the Trojans’ strategy and was quick to keep up with their pace. 

The Trojans picked up the pace once freshman forward Rhea Moore was subbed in, as she made several great passes that kept the energy up. 

Although the aggression and energy were competitive, the Trojans were hurt by a lack of goal attempts in the first half with only four, the lowest for a half for either team in the game.

“I thought we had a lot of good moments,” Head Coach Jane Alukonis said in a postgame interview with the Daily Trojan. “We just need to create dangerous chances and put them away and be a lot cleaner defensively.”

In the first half, freshman goalkeeper Josie Biehl snagged all four of Purdue’s shots on goal. While she kept the Boilermakers from scoring, the Trojan offense also failed to score, resulting in a nil-nil first half.

USC loses momentum in second half

USC continued its aggressive pursuit in the second half, recording more goal attempts than in the first. Though their shots didn’t find the back of the net, the Trojans kept fighting throughout most of the match.

That was until the 76th minute, when Anderson scored the Boilermakers’ first goal of the game. Anderson took a wide-open shot, which went in as Biehl fell while trying to block the ball and couldn’t get back up. Biehl was on the ground for a couple of minutes, but eventually got back up to play the remaining minutes.

However, that goal altered the momentum for the rest of the night. Shortly after, Purdue scored once again, with junior forward Rosa Maalouf striking it in in the 79th minute. 

It was clear toward the end of the game that the Trojans were running out of fuel, and the intensity of their play was not as strong as it was before. USC was not connecting on passes and couldn’t control the ball. 

While both sides played assertively, the Trojans finished with 14 fouls and the Boilermakers ended with 15 in a penalty-driven game. Even then, Purdue was one step ahead of USC and finished with the win.

After this loss, the Trojans remain at just one win on the season and winless in Big Ten play. As they continue their journey, they will need to make significant adjustments to get their first conference wins and fight for a spot in the playoffs.  

“We need to clean up a lot of what we’ve been doing on the ball: speed it up, be a lot more dangerous in the attack and be able to dominate games better than we have,” Alukonis said. “[We need to] keep belief in ourselves to keep rallying on and keep fighting on and have the best finish that we can to [the] season.”

The Trojans’ next conference opponent is around the corner when they play against Oregon (6-1-1, 1-1-0) on Friday at 6 p.m. at Rawlinson Stadium.