Women's Soccer Starts Pac-10 Play This Weekend
October 06, 1999 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 6, 1999
LOS ANGELES - The No. 11 USC women's soccer team (7-3 overall, 0-0 in the Pacific-10 Conference), under coach Jim Millinder and led by two-time All-Americans Isabelle Harvey and Kim Clark, starts conference play this weekend at home. The defending Pac-10 champion Women of Troy face Arizona (6-4, 0-1) on Friday (Oct. 8) at 3 p.m. in the Coliseum and Arizona State (7-2, 1-0 -- plays at UCLA on Friday) on Sunday (Oct. 10) at 1 p.m. at McAlister Field.
RANKINGS - USC is ranked No. 11 in Soccer Times, No. 12 in Soccer Buzz, No. 13 in Soccer America and No. 14 by the NSCAA ... Arizona and Arizona State are unranked.
NEWS & NOTES - Isabelle Harvey became USC's all-time leading point scorer over the weekend and she now has 93. She passed Courtney Barham, who had 91 points from 1995-98. Kim Clark is close behind, as she has tied Barham with 91 points ... Two of USC's top three scorers in 1999 are freshmen (Jennifer Prigmore is first with 13 points and Ali Fennell is tied for second with 11 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).
OPPONENTS - Arizona (6-4, 0-1) has won three in a row after losing three straight. Junior forward Chrissy Sanford leads the team with 23 points (nine goals and five assists) while sophomore forward Tiffany Sabado has 14 points (six goals and two assists). USC leads the all-time series, 4-1, and has won three straight ... Arizona State (7-2, 1-0 ? plays at UCLA on Friday) has won six consecutive matches. The Sun Devils boast the Pac-10's top scorer in sophomore midfielder Stacey Tullock, who has 26 points on 10 goals and six assists. Arizona State has outscored its opponents 26-8. USC leads the all-time series, 2-1, but ASU won the only previous meeting in the Coliseum, in 1997.
LAST WEEKEND - USC suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss at Fresno State last Thursday (Sept. 30), though Isabelle Harvey became USC's all-time leading point scorer. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead before Harvey scored on a penalty kick in the 59th minute. There were few other scoring chances for USC, which managed just six shots. But the Women of Troy rebounded with a dominating 4-0 win over Montana at the Coliseum on Sunday (Oct. 3). Jennifer Prigmore came off the bench to score two goals and Katie Ticehurst and Ali Fennell each had one. Lauren Arase made four saves and earned her first career solo shutout.
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 (93) and game-winning goals (16) and second in goals (33) and assists (27) in USC history. In 1999, she has 11 points on four goals and three assists. She scored two goals against Maryland. 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 will also 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 (31), tied for second in points (91) and third in goals (30). This season, she has one goal and four 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 two goals in 1999, both from great distances. She scored a spectacular goal against then-No. 4 Florida, striking the ball from about 30 yards out after a long run. Her goal against Montana was hit from about 35 yards out.
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 second on the team with 11 points (four goals and three assists). Among her early highlights, she has been named both 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), leads USC in scoring with 13 points (six goals and one assist) 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.
FRESHMEN - The Women of Troy have 11 true freshmen on the roster, and in addition to Fennell and Prigmore, several others are making an immediate impact. Another forward with an outstanding scoring touch, Jackie Fodor (Winnetka/Chatsworth HS) was the Los Angeles City Section's top scorer over the last four years. She has five points (two goals and one assist), with both goals coming in her debut against UC Irvine. Laura Foster (Del Mar/Bishop's School) is a speedy wide midfielder who comes off the bench. Goalkeeper Lauren Arase (La Canada/La Canada HS), a member of the U.S. Under-18 National Team pool, has started three times. Midfielder Kaley Pickett (Irvine/University HS) has played in five matches and has one assist.
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 sixth in the conference in team points (58) and fourth in team goalkeeping (1.20 goals-against average) ... Jennifer Prigmore is tied for fourth with six goals and tied for seventh with 13 points ... Kim Clark is tied for third with four assists ... In goals-against average, Lauren Arase is second (0.73) and Shaelyn Fernandes is eighth (1.45) ... Fernandes is eighth with 27 saves.
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 52-18-2 (.736) with USC and a six-year overall mark of 60-45-6 (.568). 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).
