So if they repeat, they play possession, but if not, they dont? Very clever. Look, people may have different definitions of "possession," "kickball," or "direct," but if you're implying that USC played kickball as in "kick & hope," as someone else here has described it, then you are wrong.
Did SC play tiki taka? No. Was it the most sophisticated or aesthetically pleasing? Maybe not, but to call it kick & hope is dishonest. SC played a lot of possession through their mids (countless ground hugging passes through the seems from freeman to mills/Andrews, and trust me if Freeman wanted to, she could kick it to the moon. Countless times Prisock would dribble up the back line, fake off the forward, and get the ball to the mids or forwards).
They also played a lot of possession through their forwards. Pruitt, Johnson, and Anthony could all play with their backs to the goal and a lot of balls went through them (see game winner against Georgetown).
What you saw against West Virginia was a very good and VERY athletic team and yes, SC had trouble playing the type of game they had played all year. Shoot, even Barcelona has had trouble all season long with high pressure. Yes, SC had to clear plenty of balls to relieve pressure (in fact Prisock cleared/booted some balls when she was not under much pressure, something she hadn't done all year, but I think the opponent had something to do about that). Even the second goal SC scored started with a clear from Andrews at the 18, which Pruitt chased down, and had the skill and composure to give Johnson a nice ball to handle and score from.
What distinguished SC more than anything is that they had 3 very capable forwards who knew how to put the ball in the net. Nobody in the country had anything close to that trio. Thats why some of us on this board were so high on SC from the get go. I've watched a lot of college soccer and there are a lot of so called top teams that would not have put that second goal in the net. Pruitt's physical ability to win the ball, composure and skill to place a very good pass (under the circumstances) to Johnson, and Johnson's composure to put the ball in the net, could not have been accomplished by any other team in the nation.