The ASU women’s soccer team saw the end of its seven-game unbeaten streak Friday night against the USC Trojans in Los Angeles.

In a game that ended 1-0, the Sun Devils and Trojans played a dead even first half.

It was in the second half where the momentum shifted to the Trojans, and USC junior forward Megan Ohai scored the only goal of the game on a shot from 20 yards out in the 57th minute.

“In the second half, it wasn’t as good by us,” ASU coach Kevin Boyd said. “They came out with a renewed energy, and we didn’t match it very well. It’s the first game this year where I felt we got outworked in the second half, which is not good for us. From that standpoint, we were disappointed.”

USC outshot the Sun Devils 10-4 and boasted twice as many corner kicks in Friday night’s game, but Boyd was still able to take away some positives.

“It came down to one goal,” Boyd said. “It was a 1-0 game, and a very close one. The only positive I took out of it was a year ago we weren’t even close to that team, and this year we’re dead even with them. I walked away going, ‘OK, we’re even with a team like that now.’”

The Sun Devils returned to action Sunday when they faced the
No. 3 UCLA.

The Sun Devils fell to the Bruins 3-2 in double overtime, but Boyd said his team played in a way more characteristic of the culture it had worked all season to develop.

“We played a lot better [Sunday] in terms of our sustained effort the whole time,” Boyd said. “We went up on them 1-0 — Alexandra [Elston] had a great goal — and then we faced a barrage of shots from them, and you could see that they are still a better team than we are. They just have some lethal forwards that are very, very hard to contain for anybody, so that was difficult.”

Although the Bruins (11-1-1, 2-0 Pac-10) had outshot them, the Sun Devils remained ahead 1-0 at halftime

But an error would cost ASU a goal that tied the game.

UCLA freshman midfielder Zakyla Bywaters evened the score 1-1 in the 55th minute when she tapped the ball into the net after a save by ASU freshman goalkeeper Alyssa Gillmore.

“It is really too bad for our goalkeeper, because she’d been playing outstanding and she really kept us in that first half,” Boyd said.

“What’s great is that we came back and responded. We charged on them and did the things we’ve been working on and got a goal.”

The Bruins then took a 2-1 lead on a goal by senior forward Lauren Cheney in the 68th minute.

But ASU’s second goal, scored by freshman defender/forward Kiara Williams, would tie the game 2-2 and eventually send the game into overtime

But after a scoreless first overtime, UCLA junior defender Lauren Barnes gave the Bruins the win in the second extra period on a shot from 15 yards out.

“We made a very costly error, which our team has struggled with — making some young, dumb errors in terms of clearing,” Boyd said. “We’ve struggled all season with clearing the ball wide. We had a chance to clear it wide, and instead of doing that, we cleared it right into the middle of the field. One of their players picked it up and slammed it home, and that decided the game.”

This early in the conference season, the Sun Devils (7-3-2, 0-2 Pac-10) are feeling the strength of the Pac-10, but Boyd said they will take the lessons from the weekend into their next contests against Washington and Washington State.

“UCLA’s No. 3 in the country, and they’re that way for a reason,” he said. “There’s still a gap between us. We are going to battle and fight those teams and do everything possible, but there is still a bit of a gap.”

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.