Women's Soccer Closes Out Home Season
October 12, 1999 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 12, 1999
THIS WEEK - The No. 10 USC women's soccer team (9-3 overall, 2-0 in the Pacific-10 Conference), under coach Jim Millinder and led by two-time All-Americans Isabelle Harvey and Kim Clark, finishes up the regular-season portion of the 1999 home schedule against the Washington schools this weekend at the Coliseum. The Women of Troy host Washington (4-6, 1-0) on Friday (Oct. 15) at 3 p.m. and Washington State (6-5, 0-1 - plays at UCLA on Friday) on Sunday (Oct. 17) at 1 p.m.
RANKINGS - USC is ranked No. 10 by Soccer Times and Soccer Buzz, No. 11 by Soccer America and No. 12 by the NSCAA ... Washington and Washington State are unranked.
NEWS & NOTES - USC has set a school record by recording three consecutive shutouts ... Isabelle Harvey became USC's all-time leading point scorer recently and she now has 98. Kim Clark is close behind in second place with 94 points ... Two of USC's top three scorers in 1999 are freshmen (Jennifer Prigmore is second with 14 points and Ali Fennell is third with 12 points) ... The Women of Troy play perhaps the toughest schedule in the country, including matches against defending NCAA champion Florida and 15-time national champion North Carolina, as well as eight other teams that made the 1998 NCAA Tournament ... Three USC players participated in the 1999 Women's World Cup: Harvey (Canada), Susie Mora (Mexico) and Barbara Almaraz (Mexico).
WASHINGTON - The Huskies (4-6, 1-0), after a demanding non-conference schedule, opened up Pac-10 play with a 3-0 win over rival Washington State last weekend. Sophomore forward Caroline Putz has a team-high 14 points (four goals and six assists), while junior forward Tami Bennett has 11 points (four goals and three assists). The Women of Troy lead the all-time series, 3-2. All three USC wins have come in Los Angeles. Last season, the Huskies posted a 3-2 win in Seattle, but the Women of Troy rebounded with a 2-1 overtime victory at the Coliseum in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (USC's first-ever NCAA Tournament match).
WASHINGTON STATE - The Cougars (6-5, 0-1 - plays at UCLA on Friday) are led by junior forward Deka DeWitt's 16 points (six goals and four assists). Washington State has lost two of its last three. For the season, the Cougars have outscored their opponents 22-18. USC leads the all-time series, 3-1. After winning the first three matches in the series, the Women of Troy lost in Pullman in 1998, 2-0.
LAST WEEKEND - The Women of Troy got off to a fine start in Pacific-10 Conference play, routing Arizona, 6-0, on Friday (Oct. 8) at the Coliseum and beating Arizona State, 2-0, on Sunday (Oct. 10) at McAlister Field. The win over the Wildcats was the largest margin of victory ever for USC in a Pac-10 contest. Three USC players scored their first collegiate goals: Christy Callier (who scored two), Brittany Savelkoul and Tawny Flores. Isabelle Harvey and Katie Ticehurst each had a goal and an assist. Against the Sun Devils, the Women of Troy set a school record with their third consecutive shutout. Kim Clark scored in the seventh minute and Harvey converted a penalty kick in the 17th minute to account for the goals.
ISABELLE HARVEY - Junior midfielder/forward Isabelle Harvey (Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Canada) is coming off an outstanding performance in the 1999 Women's World Cup for Canada and is one of the nation's top collegiate players. A two-time All-American and the 1998 Pac-10 Co-Player of the Year, Harvey ranks first in points (98) and game-winning goals (16) and second in goals (35) and assists (28) in USC history. In 1999, she has a team-high 16 points on six goals and four assists. She scored two goals against Maryland and a goal and an assist against Arizona. Her penalty-kick goal against Fresno State pushed her into the lead as USC's all-time top point scorer. Harvey starts at wide midfielder but she also can be pushed up to forward. She had eight goals and a Pac-10-high 12 assists in 1998.
KIM CLARK - Another player who is potentially one of the best in the nation, senior midfielder/forward Kim Clark (Cupertino/Monta Vista HS) is a two-time All-American third teamer who ranks first in USC history in assists (32), second in points (94) and third in goals (31). This season, she has nine points on two goals and a team-high five assists. She collected two assists against Maryland. She was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week for scoring the game-winner against then-No. 15 Duke. The catalyst for USC's offense, Clark starts at attacking midfielder. Clark suffered a broken leg in a match against UCLA last season and missed the final four matches of the season, including USC's postseason run. She finished with 10 goals and six assists in 1998.
CHRISTINA KUSHNIR - The leader of USC's defense, senior sweeper Christina Kushnir (San Diego/Bishop's School) is having another strong season and should be in line for postseason honors. Kushnir, a dominating player in the air, also contributes on offense and has seven career goals. She has one assist in 1999. She was USC's representative on the four-person All-Tournament team at the Duke Adidas Classic.
KATIE TICEHURST - Junior defensive midfielder Katie Ticehurst (Los Alamitos/Mater Dei HS) offers a potent mix of offensive and defensive prowess and is on her way to becoming a premier player. She has three goals and one assist for seven points in 1999. All three of her goals have come >from at least 30 yards out. She scored a spectacular goal against then-No. 4 Florida, striking the ball from about 30 yards out after a long run. She had a goal and an assist against Arizona.
ALI FENNELL - A freshman who has added a great dose of speed and ability to the Women of Troy, midfielder Ali Fennell (Santa Ana/Mater Dei HS) has been outstanding early in her career. So far she is third on the team with 12 points (four goals and four assists). Among her early highlights, she has been named a two-time Pac-10 Player of the Week (Sept. 13 and 20) and to the Soccer America Team of the Week twice. She received the first awards after scoring the game-winner against then-No. 8 UConn and assisting on the game-winner against then-No. 12 Portland. After scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over then-No. 8 BYU, she received the second set of honors.
JENNIFER PRIGMORE - USC's "Super-Sub", freshman forward Jennifer Prigmore (Norman, OK/Norman North HS), is second on the team in scoring with 14 points (six goals and two assists) despite having started only one match. One of the top prep scorers in Oklahoma prep history, she has transferred her scoring ability to the collegiate level. Two of her goals have come immediately upon being inserted into the match as a substitute. She had two goals against Montana and a goal and an assist against UC Irvine.
DEFENDERS - In addition to Kushnir, USC has three outstanding defenders that rotate between the other two spots. Junior Megan Orach (Huntington Beach/Marina HS) has started all 12 matches, junior Susie Mora (Mission Viejo/Santa Margarita HS) has started nine times and sophomore Erin Reed (Alamo/San Ramon Valley HS) has started five times. Orach was a forward her first two seasons and has made a terrific adjustment to defending. Mora was a starter for Mexico in the 1999 Women's World Cup.
GOALKEEPERS - USC has received steady play from its two goalkeepers, who have shared time. Sophomore Shaelyn Fernandes (San Jose/Presentation HS) is 5-3 as a starter and has a 1.313 goals-against average. Freshman Lauren Arase (La Canada/La Canada HS), a member of the U.S. Under-18 National Team pool, is 4-0 as a starter and has a 0.553 goals-against average. Fernandes has three shutouts, Arase has two and the duo has shared on two others.
LINEUP - USC returns six of 11 starters from last season, though five other players started at least four matches heading into 1999. The Women of Troy have only two seniors - midfielder Kim Clark and defender Christina Kushnir - and both are starters. One freshman, midfielder Ali Fennell, has earned a permanent starting job, while four other freshmen have started at least once (goalkeeper Lauren Arase, forward Jackie Fodor, midfielder Laura Foster and forward Jennifer Prigmore).
PAC-10 STATS - USC is third in the conference in team points (81) and third in team goalkeeping (1.00 goals-against average) ... Isabelle Harvey is tied for sixth in points with 16 ... Jennifer Prigmore is tied for 10th in points with 14 ... Harvey and Prigmore are tied for sixth in goals with six each ... Kim Clark is tied for fourth with five assists ... Harvey and Ali Fennell are tied for eighth with four assists each ... In goals-against average, Lauren Arase is second (0.55) and Shaelyn Fernandes is sixth (1.31) ... In goalie saves, Fernandes is eighth (28) and Arase is 10th (23).
MISCELLANEOUS - Ali Fennell is the only women's soccer player to ever earn back-to-back Pac-10 Player of the Week honors ... USC posted shutouts in its first two matches of the season for the first time in school history ... Jennifer Prigmore is the third Trojan freshman to score goals in each of her first two matches (Erin Bailey in 1994 and Courtney Barham in 1995 were the others) ... USC won back-to-back matches against ranked teams for the first time ever against Portland and UConn (the streak went to four with wins over BYU and Duke) ... USC was outshot in seven straight matches (but went 4-3 in those matches) before outshooting Montana ... Kaylee Whitfield (Santa Ana/El Modena HS) knows about coming back from adversity, having been hit by lightning when she was 9 years old (her heart stopped beating for a minute), then returning in 1999 after surgeries to torn ligaments in both knees last year.
HEAD COACH JIM MILLINDER - Now in his fourth season as USC's head coach, Jim Millinder has put USC on the verge of becoming a national power. He has a four-year record of 54-18-2 (.743) with USC and a six-year overall mark of 62-45-6 (.575). A former U.S. National Team member, Millinder was named the 1997 West Region Coach of the Year and the 1996 and 1998 Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
LAST SEASON - In 1998, the Women of Troy went 14-7-1 overall, earned their first-ever Pacific-10 Conference championship (tying for first at 7-2 with California and UCLA but beating both to win the tiebreaker) and made it to their first-ever NCAA Tournament (where they beat Washington in the first round but lost to San Diego State in three overtimes in the second).
