After winning its first three games and scoring 11 goals, No. 4 USC women’s soccer had its offensive fire extinguished by the Portland Pilots in a 0-0 draw on Thursday. It’s the first time this season that USC hasn’t won a game, moving their record to 3-0-1.

Even though USC had the lion’s share of possession for most of the match and outshot Portland 18-7, the Pilots stuck to their defensive-minded gameplan of dropping back deep in order to disrupt USC’s quick, attacking style of play.

“Statistics wise, the more people in line to goal the harder it’s going to be to score,” Trojan head coach Jane Alukonis said. “They stuck to the game plan from the first minute of the game and held a lot of numbers behind the ball. We just spoke about [it] as a team that it wasn’t our best performance.”

Portland’s defense held USC’s offense in check by shutting down the middle of the pitch for a majority of the game. USC tried quick give-and-go passes on the wings to break through Portland’s defense, but the Pilots never allowed the Trojans to cut back inside to create opportunities.

USC had a couple looks from inside Portland’s 18-yard box, with sophomore midfielder Eleanor Morrissey hitting one off the right post and out of play later in the first half.

However, it was Portland who had the two best attacking chances of the night on nearly identical plays in the second half.

In the 67th minute, the Pilots’ redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sophia Hills sent a drop kick deep that bounced past USC’s backline to the Trojans’ 18-yard box where redshirt senior forward Hailey Still only had USC graduate goalkeeper Bella Grust to beat.

Since the play evolved so quickly, Grust wasn’t able to come out as far as she would’ve liked, but that allowed her to stand her ground a few yards from goal and focus on Still’s impending shot.

Still waited for the ball to settle after a couple bounces before striking with her right foot to the opposite bottom corner. Grust was ready for it, making a kick save with her right foot to keep the game level.

Portland’s second opportunity came 15 minutes later on a kick by Hills yet again. This time a goal kick, Hills sent one through the USC defense, where sophomore midfielder Nevaeh Peregrina sprinted in behind to take a shot.

Grust came out to close down Peregrina’s first time shot, making a slide-tackle-esque save at the top of the box to complete the shut out on Portland.

The clean sheet was Grust’s third of the season in four games. After Grust’s two penalty saves against Pepperdine last Thursday—with the latter ultimately winning the game for USC— she has settled in and thrived after making three appearances the last two seasons for the Trojans.

“I’ve told myself since I’ve been here and in preseason that this is the moment to be the goalie. I know I am and I think it’s shown,” Grust said after the game. “Being a goalkeeper, you need those big moments to get you through the season, to give you the confidence you need to lead the team.”

USC will look to build off Grust’s string of incredible performances to begin the year, as next week’s game might be the toughest of the season for the Trojans. Former Pac-12 foe No. 1 Stanford will travel to Rawlinson Stadium to take on USC at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Alukonis will have a full week to regroup, prepare and improve her team for the nationally televised matchup on Big Ten Network.