SAN DIEGO – A stout San Diego defense proved difficult to penetrate as the USF women's soccer team struggled to put together much offensive momentum in a 3-1 loss to the Toreros on Thursday evening in both teams' West Coast Conference opener.
Jessica Nakae netted her second goal of the season but it was too little, too late for USF (4-7-0, 0-1-0) as San Diego had already mounted a 2-0 lead by that point.
By defeating the Dons, San Diego avenges a loss to USF suffered last season in San Francisco.
USD (6-4-1, 1-0-0) got on the board in the 20th minute when Jacqueline Altschuld took an arching cross from the left wing and redirected the header past USF keeper
Makayla Presgrave.
The Toreros' second goal looked very similar but from the opposite side of the pitch. In the 27th minute, Julia Sherwood volleyed a cross from the right wing into the far corner that put USD up 2-0, which is where the score remained at the intermission.
USF was only able to muster two shots in the first half, but had its best chance in the 14th minute when Nakae delivered a pass to
Amanda Whittle cutting in from the right wing, but Whittle's shot rolled just wide left.
The Dons finally beat the Torero defense in the 59th minute by using the long ball.
Maddy Glaser sent a long pass up to Nakae, who beat the USD defender and slotted a perfectly placed ball into the far corner from 15 yards out.
Outside of Nakae's goal, USD didn't allow the Dons to get much offensive momentum going in the second half.
The Toreros tacked on an insurance score in the 82nd minute when Rachel Connors banged home a shot from close range into the far corner to put USD up by its final 3-1 tally.
USD held a 14-6 advantage in shots on the night, while both teams matched each other with three corner kicks apiece.
Presgrave registered five saves in the contest.
UP NEXT: The Dons move on to face another stiff task when they travel to Provo, Utah for a 4:30 p.m. (PDT) matchup on Monday against No. 2 BYU. That match will be available live on BYUtv and BYU Radio (SiriusXM 143).
