Women's Soccer Visits Fresno State Thursday
September 28, 1999 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 28, 1999
LOS ANGELES - The No. 6 USC women's soccer team (6-2), under coach Jim Millinder and led by two-time All-Americans Isabelle Harvey and Kim Clark closes out the non-conference season with a pair of matches this week. The Women of Troy went 4-2 in their recent six-game stretch against ranked teams, and their only losses this season are to defending NCAA champion Florida and 15-time champion North Carolina. This week, USC visits Fresno State (7-3) on Thursday (Sept. 30) at 7 p.m., then hosts Montana (4-3 - plays at San Diego State on Friday) on Sunday (Oct. 3) at 1 p.m. at the Coliseum.
RANKINGS - USC is ranked No. 6 in Soccer America, No. 7 in both Soccer Times and the NSCAA and No. 8 in Soccer Buzz ... Fresno State and Montana are unranked.
NEWS & NOTES - USC's top two scorers in 1999 are freshmen (Jennifer Prigmore and Ali Fennell have nine points each) ... Courtney Barham's school record of 91 career points is about to be surpassed, as Isabelle Harvey and Kim Clark (90 points each) are right on her heels ... 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 - Fresno State (7-3) is off to its best start in school history and has won four in a row. Junior forward Jill Pearson leads the team with 10 points (four goals and two assists). The all-time series is tied, 1-1-1. Last year at the Coliseum, the game ended in a 2-2 tie. In 1997, the only previous meeting in Fresno, the Women of Troy scored twice in the last nine minutes for a 2-1 win ... Montana (4-3 - plays at San Diego State on Friday) has won its last two matches. Junior midfielder Jodi Campbell has scored a team-high 12 points (five goals and two assists). USC and Montana are meeting for the first time.
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).
LAST WEEKEND - USC won its fourth straight match against a ranked opponent on Friday night (Sept. 24), beating No. 15 Duke, 2-0, in the Duke Adidas Classic. Kim Clark started the scoring at the 13:55 mark when she picked up her first goal of the season. USC scored its second goal just before halftime, as Jennifer Prigmore knocked one in off assists from Isabelle Harvey and Ali Fennell. The Blue Devils (5-4) outshot the Women of Troy, 9-7. Shaelyn Fernandes made four saves, all in the first half, to earn her third solo shutout of the season. But the winning streak came to an end on Sunday (Sept. 26), as USC suffered a 5-0 defeat against a hungry North Carolina team coming off a loss. The No. 2 Tar Heels outshot the Women of Troy, 29-5, and had a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks.
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 game-winning goals (16) and second in goals (32), assists (26) and points (90) in USC history. In 1999, she has eight points on three goals and two assists. She scored two goals against Maryland. 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 (30) and third in both points (90) and goals (30). This season, she has one goal and three assists. She collected two assists against Maryland. 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 scored a spectacular goal against then-No. 4 Florida, striking the ball from about 30 yards out after a long run.
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 as the team's leading scorer with nine points (three 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.
FRESHMEN - The Women of Troy have 11 true freshmen on the roster, and in addition to Fennell, several others are making an immediate impact. USC's "Super-Sub", forward Jennifer Prigmore (Norman, OK/North HS) was one of the top scorers in Oklahoma prep history and is now tied for the team lead with nine points (team-high four goals and one assist). She had a goal and an assist against UC Irvine. 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 scored two goals 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 twice.
PAC-10 STATS - USC is tied for sixth in the conference in team points (44) and fourth in team goalkeeping (1.25 GAA) ... Jennifer Prigmore is tied for ninth with four goals ... Kim Clark and Ali Fennell are tied for seventh with three assists each ... In goals-against average, Lauren Arase is fourth (0.97) and Shaelyn Fernandes is ninth (1.35) ... Fernandes is tied for seventh with 23 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 has been outshot in six straight matches.
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 51-17-2 (.743) with USC and a six-year overall mark of 59-44-6 (.569). 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).
