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Last Friday, USC's women's soccer team earned an emphatic 4-0 win over Arizona. The game didn't leave much work for goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme, a redshirt senior, or at least that's what the scoreline seemed to indicate. That's what happens when you shut out your opponent, which has been a common occurrence at USC's McAlister Field and across the country this season.By beating Arizona, USC extended its impressive shutout streak to seven games --- a new school record --- and gave head coach Keidane McAlpine his 100th victory as a Division I head coach. The Women of Troy have not conceded a goal in 654 minutes, which matches a school record, meaning today's game at Oregon could bring even more history to the program.
This current streak by the Trojans has seen seven wins, 16 goals, and a massive win over North Carolina, one of the nation's most prestigious women's soccer programs. Prudhomme has enjoyed the best view of the run from between her two posts, which has helped her come up with the key to keeping the streak alive.
"The main way to keep a streak going is not to focus on it. We didn't even know there was a shutout streak," said Prudhomme. "We want to get a shutout every single game. If not, all that matters is if we win the game in the end."
Prudhomme believes this mentality will bode well for her team's aspirations for a Pac-12 championship, a high NCAA seed and beyond. She credits consistency as another aspect that has helped the Women of Troy climb to a Top 10 national ranking.
"I think the biggest difference between this season and last season is we have players, old and new, that are consistently scoring. I think a lot of that has to do with how confident we're feeling on defense," said Prudhomme. She also credits the coaches pushing the team to work for each other and stay together, especially at times of adversity. That has manifested into a resilient and selfless identity on and off the field.
Many players never go on a run like this in their athletic careers, but Prudhomme achieved a similar feat her senior year of high school --- her team strung together a shutout streak (which was eventually broken up), then went on to win the championship. The funny thing about shutout streaks is that the goalie always gets pushed into the spotlight, and this USC keeper has come a long way to be No. 1 in the net during this record-breaking run.
Growing up in Aliso Viejo, CA, Prudhomme was obsessed with sports, playing basketball, tennis and soccer. At the age of 13 she had to pick one sport to stick with, and soccer was the easy choice to make."I just love it. It's my passion. I love everything about it and even when I hate it, I love it. I think it's just something I was meant to do," said Prudhomme. So how does a girl that loves soccer get hooked on being a goalkeeper when most kids shy away from shots catapulted towards their faces day in and day out?
"When I was really young I was always in the back because I didn't want people to score any goals. I don't know if it was because I didn't want to run or I just wanted to defend the goal, but it was one or the other," explained Prudhomme. "I was a fearless little kid and that's the type of personality you need to have to play goalkeeper." She started playing soccer at age six, started walking across her family's pool cover even earlier, and got keeper fever at age eight.
Prudhomme didn't take the normal route in becoming a soccer player (keepers are a rare breed), nor did she en route to USC. In fact, she was once a conference foe of the Women of Troy at Oregon State, whom USC faces on Sunday.
"I went in for a visit my junior year [of high school] and I loved it there. I loved the team that was there at the time, the school, everything about Oregon," said Prudhomme. But after two years she realized the environment around the team soured, causing her to look elsewhere to transfer. Choosing between USC and St. John's was a tough call, but the stars aligned when a new coach took over in Southern California.
"The biggest thing for me, when I asked for my release, was that the old coach at USC had been fired, and they picked up Keidane. I knew about him and I knew his reputation," said Prudhomme. McAlpine had previously coached in the Pac-12 at Washington State, and Prudhomme soon fielded calls from her former club coaches who told her she and Keidane would be a great match. The two then got in touch and she was given an offer to come down to California.
"I accepted it, went out for a visit and knew it was the place to be," said Prudhomme. It took a lot of patience to navigate through the red tape and headaches of transferring, especially within the conference, but soon enough, Prudhomme was on campus. The only problem was that she was forced to take a mandatory redshirt year because of NCAA and Pac-12 transfer policies.
Though sitting out for a year was tough, she got to learn under Caroline Stanley, who now plays professionally in the National Women's Soccer League for Sky Blue FC. When it was finally time for her to take over, she leaned on what she learned that year sitting out and on her competitive nature."The biggest motivation for me is that [soccer] is something I really love to do. If I want to keep doing it, I need to keep working hard and keep getting better and better," said Prudhomme. "I'm also an extremely competitive person and the competitive nature of sports just continues to drive me. I love the competition and I love competing."
Like Stanley before her, Prudhomme hopes to play professionally after her final season, either in the NWSL or abroad, but she's not getting ahead of herself just yet.
"Right now I'm focusing on what we've got going on right here. It's fun and I don't want to take anything too quickly when I have such a good thing going on right now," she said.
Prudhomme and the women's team are back in action today at 4:30 p.m PT against the Oregon Ducks, as they aim for another shutout record and win. The game will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.
