University Southern California Trojans
Women Of Troy Look To Bounce Back In Oregon
October 26, 1999 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 26, 1999
LOS ANGELES - The No. 8 USC women's soccer team (12-4 overall, 5-1 in the Pacific-10 Conference for second place), under coach Jim Millinder and led by two-time All-Americans Isabelle Harvey and Kim Clark, still has hopes for a second straight conference title but will need help the rest of the way. The Women of Troy are one match back of Stanford with three to play. This weekend, USC heads north again to face Oregon (6-9, 2-3) on Friday (Oct. 29) at 3 p.m. and Oregon State (8-7-1, 1-4 plays UCLA on Friday) on Sunday (Oct. 31) at 2 p.m.
RANKINGS
USC is ranked No. 8 by Soccer America and Soccer Buzz and No. 10
by the NSCAA and Soccer Times ... Oregon and Oregon State are unranked.
NEWS & NOTES
USC now has two players that have eclipsed the 100-point
career scoring mark, with each doing so in the last two weeks: Isabelle
Harvey (105) and Kim Clark (100) ... USC has tied a school single-season
record with eight shutouts (set last season) ... 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).
OREGON
The Ducks (6-9, 2-3) have won two of their last three, but are
coming off a 1-0 overtime loss to Washington. Sophomore forward Chalise
Baysa has scored 15 points (seven goals and one assist) and senior forward
Erin Anderson has scored 13 points (five goals and three assists). USC is a
perfect 3-0 all-time against Oregon (1-0 in Eugene). In each of the last
two seasons, USC's Megan Orach has scored a goal in the first minute of the
match.
OREGON STATE
The Beavers (8-7-1, 1-4) play UCLA on Friday) beat
Washington State, 3-2, last weekend to snap a four-match losing streak. Two
players have each scored a team-high 14 points: sophomore forward BreeAnna
Jolin (seven goals) and freshman midfielder Katie Henderson (six goals and
two assists). USC leads the all-time series, 4-2, and has won four
straight, including both previous meetings in Corvallis.
LAST WEEKEND
USC split in its two matches in the Bay Area. On Friday
(Oct. 22), the Women of Troy defeated California, 2-1, in overtime.
Isabelle Harvey scored the game-winner in the second overtime period, in
the 111th minute. Kim Clark scored a goal in the second minute to give USC
a 1-0 lead, but Cal tied it in the 29th minute. On Sunday (Oct. 24),
Stanford eked out a 3-2 victory to take over first place in the Pac-10.
Goals by Ali Fennell and Isabelle Harvey gave USC leads of 1-0 and 2-1,
respectively, but Stanford scored goals in the 72nd and 73rd minutes to
earn the win.
ISABELLE HARVEY
Junior midfielder/forward Isabelle Harvey (Cap-Rouge,
Quebec, Canada) had 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 (105) and game-winning goals (17) and second in goals
(37) and assists (31) in USC history. In 1999, she has 23 points on eight
goals (both are team highs) and seven assists. Isabelle has scored a point
in 11 straight conference matches dating back to last season, and in her
career, she has scored a point in 16 of 22 conference matches. She scored
two goals against Maryland and had 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 (36),
second in points (100) and third in goals (32). This season, she has 15
points on three goals and a team-high nine 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. Her assist against Stanford was the 100th point of her
career. 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 second on the team with 16
points (six 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), has scored 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 16 matches, junior Susie Mora (Mission
Viejo/Santa Margarita HS) has started 13 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
6-4 as a starter and has a 1.356 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 six consecutive matches.
PAC-10 STATS
USC is third in the conference in team points (111) and
second in team goalkeeping (1.06 goals-against average) ... Kim Clark is
first in assists with nine, while Isabelle Harvey is tied for second with
seven ... Harvey is tied for fourth in points with 23 and tied for sixth
in goals with eight ... Shaelyn Fernandes is fifth (1.36) in goals-against
average and seventh (46) in saves.
MISCELLANEOUS
Ali Fennell is the only women's soccer player to ever earn
back-to-back Pac-10 Player of the Week honors ... The Women of Troy have
scored in the first 10 minutes of the match in five of six conference
matches ... 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 57-19-2 (.744) with USC and a six-year overall mark
of 65-46-6 (.581). 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).
