No. 7 Women's Soccer Visits Cal, Stanford
October 19, 1999 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 19, 1999
LOS ANGELES - The No. 7 USC women's soccer team (11-3 overall, 4-0 in the Pacific-10 Conference for a first-place tie), under coach Jim Millinder and led by two-time All-Americans Isabelle Harvey and Kim Clark, visits the Bay Area this weekend with first place in the conference on the line. USC, on a season-high five-match winning streak and winner of 11 straight conference matches, travels to California (10-4-1, 3-1) on Friday (Oct. 22) at 3 p.m., then to No. 8 Stanford (11-3, 4-0 - plays UCLA on Friday) on Sunday (Oct. 24) at 1 p.m.
RANKINGS - USC is ranked No. 7 by the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz, No. 8 by Soccer Times and No. 9 by Soccer America ... California is not ranked ... Stanford is No. 8 in Soccer America, No. 9 in Soccer Buzz, No. 10 in the NSCAA and No. 11 in Soccer Times.
NEWS & NOTES - Isabelle Harvey last weekend became the first USC women's soccer player ever to eclipse the 100-point career scoring mark ... USC has tied a school-single season record with eight shutouts (set last season) ... Two of USC's top three scorers in 1999 are freshmen (Jennifer Prigmore and Ali Fennell are both tied for second with 14 points each) ... 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).
TELEVISION - The USC-Washington State match (a 4-0 Women of Troy victory last weekend), will be televised nationally on a tape-delay basis by FOX Sports Net. Locally, it is scheduled to appear on FOX Sports West on Oct. 26 at 1 p.m., Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. and Nov. 1 at 2 a.m. It is also slated to appear on FOX Sports West 2 on Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. and Nov. 7 at 10 p.m.
CALIFORNIA - The Golden Bears (10-4-1, 3-1) are led by a pair of freshmen forwards: Laura Schott has scored 21 points (eight goals and five assists) and Brittany Kirk has scored 15 points (six goals and three assists). Junior goalkeeper Maite Zabala has a 0.70 goals-against average. The all-time series is tied, 2-2, though USC has won the last two meetings.
STANFORD - The Cardinal (11-3, 4-0 - plays UCLA on Friday) has won seven straight and are tied with USC atop the Pac-10 standings. Senior midfielder Ronnie Fair and senior forward Kelly Adamson have each scored a team-high 16 points (both have seven goals and two assists). The Cardinal has outscored its opponents, 42-18. Stanford leads the all-time series, 3-2, through USC has won the last two meetings.
LAST WEEKEND - USC scored two early goals and made it stand up in a 2-1 victory over Washington on Friday at the Coliseum. Megan Orach scored in the second minute and Christy Callier scored in the 11th minute. USC outshot Washington, 20-8, and didn't surrender a goal until the 88th minute. On Sunday, USC beat Washington State, 4-0, at the Coliseum in the regular-season home finale. Kaylee Whitfield, honored before the match as part of Senior Day, scored her first two goals of the season. Ali Fennell and Jackie Fodor also scored. Kim Clark and Isabelle Harvey each had two assists. Harvey's first assist gave her 100 points for her career. It was USC's eighth shutout of the season, tying a school record.
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 (101) and game-winning goals (16) and second in goals (35) and assists (31) in USC history. In 1999, she has a team-high 19 points on six goals and seven 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. She had two assists against Washington State, the first of which allowed her to become the first USC player ever to score 100 points in a career. 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 ranks among 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 (34), second in points (96) and third in goals (31). This season, she has 11 points on two goals and seven assists. She collected two assists against both Maryland and Washington State. 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 tied for second on the team with 14 points (five 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 tied for 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 14 matches, junior Susie Mora (Mission Viejo/Santa Margarita HS) has started 11 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 1.224 goals-against average. Freshman Lauren Arase (La Canada/La Canada HS), a member of the U.S. Under-18 National Team pool, is 6-0 as a starter and has a 0.578 goals-against average. Fernandes has three shutouts, Arase has two and the duo has shared on three others.
LINEUP - The Women of Troy have only three seniors - midfielder Kim Clark, defender Christina Kushnir and forward Kaylee Whitfield - and all 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). With the exception of the goalkeeper position, USC has started the same lineup in four consecutive matches.
PAC-10 STATS - USC is third in the conference in team points (101) and second in team goalkeeping (0.93 goals-against average) ... Kim Clark and Isabelle Harvey are tied for first in assists with seven each ... Ali Fennell is tied for 10th in assists with four ... Harvey is tied for fifth in points with 19 ... Harvey and Jennifer Prigmore are tied for 10th in goals with six each ... In goals-against average, Lauren Arase is second (0.58) and Shaelyn Fernandes is fifth (1.22) ... In goalie saves, Fernandes is ninth (32).
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 ... USC posted three straight shutouts (against Montana, Arizona and Arizona State) to set a school record (overall, USC did not surrender a goal in 398 minutes of play) ... 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 56-18-2 (.750) with USC and a six-year overall mark of 64-45-6 (.583). 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).
