LOS ANGELES - For one half of soccer the Arizona State women managed to bottle up USC, but in the second half the Trojans expanded their arsenal and broke through.

Megan Ohai scored the decider at 56:02 and USC opened Pac-10 play with a 1-0 home victory Friday.

No. 6 in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s rankings, the Trojans (9-3-0, 1-0-0) battled through a tough start to get the result it needed in what will be a challenging stretch of Pac-10 Conference competition.

“We were a little sloppy but we made adjustments and this was a good way to open the conference,” said Trojans coach Ali Khosroshahin. “We have a young group and we have to keep improving every game. This will bode well for our confidence.”

An uninspired first half for both teams featured a lot of back and forth and very little building. ASU (18th in TopDrawerSoccer.com rankings) was determined to impede the home team attack, and they were successful early on with defenders like Katie Shepard, Sierra Joseph and Liz Harkin.

The Sun Devils played through the air and had a couple looks at goal, one from Carly Kallas, who stood out with her height and athleticism.

USC spread the field in the second half and quickly reaped the benefits. Alyssa Davila, who was inserted into the match late in the first half, made some things happen with her speed. Davila was a valuable member of last season’s squad and clearly knows how to make her way around the pitch. She had an open net when ASU keeper Alyssa Gillmore came out to try and snare a cross but Davila pulled her shot wide left.

It wouldn’t matter much, because a few minutes later Ohai found herself marked 1v1 during a USC counter. Smoothly sealing her defender on the inside, she took a ball from Ashley Freyer at the top of the box, pivoted to the outside and slung a shot far post for the goal.

“I’ve been thinking about finishing all week and I kept that in my mind,” Ohai said. “They came out hard and pressured us but I thought their fitness wore off and we were the more fit team.”

USC was certainly the deeper one.

Freshman Samantha Johnson was particularly impressive. She’s physically dominant and competes as hard as anyone on the field. Johnson was everywhere Friday and made plenty of positive things happen for her team.

Junior defender Karter Haug was another standout for the Trojans. She combined with Johnson on the attack a few times and made good passes out of the back.

For the Sun Devils (7-2-2, 0-1-0), Alexandra Elston did a nice job initiating the attack in the midfield. Despite being outshot 15-7, ASU had one nice look at a goal in the closing seconds when a corner kick resulted in a back header by Elston that forced Kristin Olsen to dive to her right for the save.

It was Olsen’s fifth shutout of the season as the Trojans won their eighth straight.

ASU Lineup
GK: Alyssa Gillmore
D: Katie Shepard, Liz Harkin, Sierra Joseph
M: Alexandra Elston, Carly Kallas, Kari Shane, Taylor McCarter, Jill Shoquist
F: Karin Volpe, Bianca Doller
Substitutions: Lindsey Johns, Courtney Tinnin, Alyssa Freeman, Katie Smith, Kiara Williams

USC Lineup
GK: Kristin Olsen
D: Claire Schloemer, Karter Haug, Meagan Holmes, Chelsea Buehning
M: Brittany Kerridge, Carly Butcher, Marihelen Tomer, Megan Ohai, Courtney Garcia
F: Samantha Johnson
Substitutions: Alyssa Davila, Ashley Freyer, Kat Parker