Soccer battles back for draw in Nebraska

After falling behind in the first half, the USC Women’s soccer team battled back to secure a tie 1-1 against University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sunday afternoon.

“It’s one of those games where a tie feels more like a loss, so I think we’re taking it pretty hard,” said Head Coach Jane Alukonis. “It’s a game we felt we needed to win and wanted to win, and it didn’t go our way today.”

Nebraska secured the lead late in the first-half after sophomore forward Abbey Schwarz scored in the 37th minute. The Trojans struggled with their own shooting in the first half, totaling only 6 shots compared to Nebraska’s 11.

“Nebraska does a good job of just making the game really disruptive in the air, lots of fouls, very physical. We were hoping to be able to settle the game, keep it on the ground and play a little more soccer, but there were a lot of moments that required us just to outwork them,” Alukonis said. “The game was very disruptive and just a tough one to play.”

Despite the low number of first half shots and overwhelming physical play by the Huskies, who committed 10 first half fouls, the game was closer than it may have seemed.

“We talk a lot about the quality of shots,” Alukonis said. “Sometimes Nebraska does put a lot of shots on the board, but it doesn’t always necessarily mean that they were closer to scoring.”

After a halftime adjustment, the Trojans began attacking the goal more, outshooting Nebraska 11-5 in the final 45 minutes and totaling 9 shots on goal to Nebraska’s 3 over the course of the game.

“We talked to our team a lot about making sure our chances are quality,” Aluknois said. “We had to go a little more direct and chase the game, and I thought we were successful in what we tried to employ, apart from a couple that were offside or didn’t quite finish.”

The Trojan’s direct play paid off as sophomore forward Simone Jackson found the back of the net in the 54th minute, scoring off an assist by senior midfielder Croix Bethune. With the goal, Jackson extended her scoring streak to three consecutive games.

“Simone has done really well getting on the board, game after game,” Alukonis said. “In terms of getting into the positions  we wanted to, I thought that we were fairly successful.”

However, despite the increased shot volume in the second half, the Trojan’s failed to convert any of their chances into a game winner.

“I think we created, but some of our best chances were called offsides,” Alukonis revealed. The Trojans were called offside three times throughout the game. “Overall, we just needed one or two of those to go our way but didn’t have the luck today.”

On top of the stress of two separate road games in four days, USC is also attempting to deal with the constant shuffling of their roster as players leave and return from tours with their national teams. 

“While it’s really nice to have a lot of players back, sometimes you don’t quite know how long they will be able to play for or at what level they are able to perform, just based on everything their bodies have gone through recently” Alukonis said. “It’s nice to have more options, but we also have to reintegrate them into the team.”

After a long weekend of play, the Trojans have three days to rest before they return to action against UC Irvine Thursday afternoon.

“Always, our focus is outworking the other team, creating more chances, putting goals away, and trying to deny any opportunity of danger from them,” Alukonis said. “We are aware of the level that Irvine is, and it’s going to be a tough one, but we will work as hard as we possibly can to get the result.”

The Trojans look to claim victory as they return home against UC Irvine at Soni McAlister Field on Sept. 15 at 3:00 pm.