University Southern California Trojans
USC Pushes For Road Win At Portland
September 13, 2011 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 13, 2011
THIS WEEK
The USC women's soccer team takes on another strong opponent this week in a road venture to Portland to take on the Pilots. The Trojans' 1 p.m. match on Sunday (Sept. 18) against host Portland (3-3-1) lines up USC (3-5-0) for a shot at gathering in an important win on the way into next week's conference kickoff.
FOLLOW ALONG
Free live video, audio and stats will be available for Sunday's USC match at Portland. CLICK HERE to access all the action.
RANKINGS
USC opened the year ranked No. 25 in both the NSCAA and Soccer America preseason polls, but dropped out of the polls after opening losses. Portland holds a No. 23 ranking in this week's Soccer Times poll.
SCOUTING PORTLAND
The No. 23 Pilots enter the week at 3-3-1 with a Thursday clash with No. 1 Stanford on the docket before taking on the Trojans on Sunday. Danielle Foxhoven leads Portland in scoring with five of the team's six goals scored in the first seven games. Goalkeeping duties have rotated through Hailee DeYoung, Erin Dees and Nicole Downing, as the three Portland keepers have combined for 21 saves and eight goals allowed. Garrett Smith is in his ninth season as head coach of the Pilots, who went 19-1-2 last season, winning the WCC and reaching the NCAA Second Round. USC is 2-1 all-time against Portland. The teams first faced off in 1999 with a 1-0 USC win. The Trojans got a 2-1 win in 2007 at McAlister Field and lost 1-0 in overtime in 2008 in Portland.
LAST WEEK
Despite an impressive outing against the nation's No. 4 and undefeated team, Oklahoma State, the Trojans were shut out for the first time this season in a 1-0 loss to the Cowgirls at McAlister Field. USC out-shot Oklahoma State 12-7 and forced five saves out of its goalkeeper, but a goal in the 56th minute from the Cowgirls would stand up to snap a three-game win streak held by the Women of Troy. USC would be disappointed again two days later in the conclusion of its Trojan Invitational, holding the lead at halftime on a strike from Autumn Altamirano before eventually falling in the 103rd minute for a 2-1 overtime loss to Texas. That dealt USC its fourth loss of the year at McAlister Field, marking the most losses taken by the Trojans on that field in a season and most overall home losses since 1994. USC had two players named to the Trojan Invitational All-Tournament Team: Brittany Kerridge and Samantha Johnson.
RECOVERY TIME
USC's four nonconference losses may be a rare sight as far as defeats at home are concerned, but it's hardly a harbinger of doom. In 1998, for example, the Trojans were dealt four nonconference losses on the way into Pac-10 play. By the end of conference action, however, USC had won a share of the Pac-10 championship and would ride an eight-game win streak into the 1998 NCAA Second Round.
ROAD WARRIORS
While USC's home turf has been a difficult stage for the Trojans so far, the Women of Troy have shined on the road. In the first weekend of September, USC turned an early-season slump into a three-game winning streak after a victorious weekend run through out-of-state competition. In a big matchup at No. 17 Illinois, USC put together an offensive onslaught that rang up a 3-1 victory, with a 17th minute goal from Ashley Freyer leading into two second-half strikes by the Trojans. Haley Boysen scored on a Brittany Kerridge assist in the 57th minute, and Kerridge converted on a penalty kick in the 66th to put USC ahead 3-0 for some padding. A 74th minute score by the Illini put the game-winner as Boysen's blast, and USC had some momentum to carry them across the state lines. On Sunday, the Trojans fought out of a halftime hole to claim an overtime victory over host Purdue, thanks to an equalizer from Elizabeth Eddy and the game-winner from Courtney Garcia in OT. Goalie Shelby Church had another six-save outing for the Trojans, rounding out a strong weekend in goal for the USC sophomore. Both games were a part of the Illini/Boilermaker Cup, and four Women of Troy earned All-Tournament Team honors on the successful road trip: Brittany Kerridge, Shelby Church, Carly Butcher and Ashley Freyer. For her two-assist, one-goal effort on the weekend, Kerridge was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week and as one of CollegeSoccer360.com's Primetime Performers of the Week.
LAST SEASON
USC went 13-6-3 overall last season after a third-place finish in the Pac-10 with a 5-3-1 mark. The Trojans reached the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season, beating Illinois 3-1 in the first round before falling 4-0 to eventual NCAA champion Notre Dame. Ashli Sandoval was USC's top scorer with six goals -- including three game-winners -- while Autumn Altamirano and Elizabeth Eddy each added five goals. Karter Haug was USC's assists leader with six assists, and Shelby Church was USC's goalkeeper of record in all games as she hauled in 82 saves with 25 goals against. Pac-10 honors went to seniors Haug and Megan Ohai on the Second Team and Alyssa Dávila with honorable mention along with Sandoval. Eddy was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
ON THE CLIMB
In spite of interruptions from injuries, USC redshirt senior Ashli Sandoval has already locked in on the USC career leader boards. As she enters her final season with the Trojans, the 2007 NCAA Champion is following up her call-up to the Mexican National Team's summer training camp with one last push to the top of the lists at Troy. Sandoval has a hold with the No. 4 all-time mark in career assists (23), No. 8 in career game-winning goals (5), No. 10 in career points (51) and No. 10 in career goals (14). Sandoval was recently joined on the game-winning goal board by junior Courtney Garcia, who tallied her fifth game-winner in USC's overtime win at Purdue last weekend. Meanwhile, making a push to join Sandoval on the assists ladder is senior Brittany Kerridge, whose two assists over the weekend give her a career count of 10 to date.
BACK ON THE ATTACK
Five of USC's top seven scorers in 2010 were either freshmen or sophomores. That sure-footed unit returns for 2011, along with leading scorer Ashli Sandoval, who provided six goals in 2010 after being sidelined in 2009 with an ACL injury. As freshmen, Autumn Altamirano, Haley Boysen and Elizabeth Eddy accounted for a third of USC's goal-scoring in 2010. Now sophomores with some extra savvy, that trio combines forces with Sandoval, senior Ashley Freyer and juniors Courtney Garcia and Samantha Johnson as the Trojans bring back seven of their top eight scorers. Thirteen different Women of Troy got to the back of the net to tally 39 goals in 2010. Now, six games into 2011, three of those 2010 scorers are already on the board, as Boysen, Eddy, Freyer and Garcia have all scored to date, while Brittany Kerridge has blasted to the front of the pack with a career season even in the early goings, boasting three goals and four assists so far.
SOMETHING NEW Three Trojan newcomers have already made their marks on the offensive end this season. Transfers Kristina Noriega and Erica Vangsness have each scored a goal apiece, and true freshman Jessica Musmanno has served up an assist for the Trojans. Noriega and Musmanno have both appeared in the starting lineup as well, with Noriega a full-time starter on the back line, and Musmanno holding two starts up front for the Trojans.
A DECADE IN USC head coach Ali Khosroshahin just finished up his 10th season of collegiate head coaching. It's a milestone that he admits came faster than he expected, but there's no doubt that he has squeezed a lot of shining moments into his first decade. In his four seasons at the helm of the Women of Troy, he's continued his streak of NCAA appearances (2005 and 2006 at Cal State Fullerton; 2007-present at USC) and picked up a national championship along the way. Khosroshahin and the Trojans won the 2007 NCAA title in his first season at Troy, making USC the first and only Pac-12 school to ever win a women's soccer national championship. The 2007 National Coach of the Year, Khosroshahin totes a 61-20-10 (.725) overall record at USC and 137-60-16 (.681) career record into this final season of his first decade of collegiate coaching.
