USC Preseason No. 1 In Golf World Poll
September 01, 2010 | Women's Golf
Sept. 1, 2010
The USC women's golf team, the 2003 and 2008 NCAA champion and a top 4 finisher in six of the past eight seasons, is the top-ranked team in Golf World's 2010-2011 preseason poll, released Wednesday (Sept. 1).
The Women of Troy, under 15th-year head coach Andrea Gaston, received nine of 33 first-place votes despite losing a pair of All-Americans from last year's NCAA second-place team, Belen Mozo and Jennifer Song.
Featured on this year's squad is three-time All-American senior Lizette Salas, part of USC's 2008 title team, as well as junior transfer Lisa McCloskey, an All-American at Pepperdine the last two years. McCloskey reached the final of the 108th Women's North & South Amateur Championship earlier this summer.
Also back are junior Inah Park and sophomore Cyna Rodriguez, both of whom played big roles during USC's 2010 NCAA Championships title chase.
Joining McCloskey as newcomers to the squad are talented freshmen Rachel Morris and Sophia Popov. Morris recently won the Pacific Northwest Amateur in Clarkston, Wash., while Popov, from Germany, won the 2010 International European Ladies Amateur Championship.
Comprising the rest of the top 10 after USC in the preseason poll is UCLA, Purdue, Alabama, Duke, Auburn, Arizona, Wake Forest, Virginia and Vanderbilt.
USC's men's team is tied for 13th in the men's preseason poll.
Players Mentioned
