No. 5 Trojans Look For First Win At Windy City Collegiate Since 2014

The No. 5 USC women's golf team, under first-year head coach Justin Silverstein and featuring a pair of All-Americans, continues the fall season at the Windy City Collegiate at the Westmoreland C.C. in Wilmette, Ill., Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 1-2).

The Trojans, coming off their second straight NCAA Championships semifinal appearance and 13^th consecutive top 5 finish, are now under Silverstein's leadership after the former Trojan associate head coach took over for Andrea Gaston, USC's long-time coach who departed Troy during the off-season to become head coach at Texas A&M.

Silverstein, who served under Gaston for four years before spending the past two seasons as the associate head coach with the USC men's squad, helped lead the USC women to the 2013 NCAA crown as well as top 5 finishes the three following seasons.

Silverstein's Trojans are looking for their first win at the tournament since the fall of 2014, when then-sophomore Annie Park also took medalist honors. Silverstein was an assistant coach on the team that year. USC last played at the Windy City in 2017, finishing third.

This year's field, in addition to USC and host Northwestern, includes Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Iowa State, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, San Diego State and South Carolina. Results for the tournament are available at Golfstat.com.

The Trojans' starting lineup includes juniors Allisen Corpuz and Aiko Leong (in her season debut), sophomores Gabriela Ruffels and Jennifer Chang and freshman Malia Nam.

Corpuz, Ruffels, Chang as well as sophomores Alyaa Abdulghany and Amelia Garvey were all starters on USC's squad last year that ultimately won five tournaments en route to a semifinal finish at the NCAAs, where it fell to eventual runner-up Alabama.

Chang earned WGCA All-American second team honors as a freshman last year as well as All-Pac-12 first team honors, leading USC in stroke average (72.43, 17^th best in school history) after joining the team for the spring season. She closed the season with seven consecutive top 15 finishes, including one win at the Silverado Showdown and three other top six finishes.

Corpuz claimed WGCA All-American and All-Pac-12 honorable mention notice as a sophomore, finishing second on the squad in stroke average (73.00). Corpuz, whose four rounds in the 60s tied with Chang for most on the team, finished the season with four top 10 results, eight top 17 finishes, including a spring streak of six in a row, and finished tied for 27^th or better in 11 of 12 outings. She had 10 rounds under par and 14 rounds of par or better. Her 68 in the single stroke play round of the SDSU March Mayhem led the field.

Abdulghany also earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors and finished third on the team in stroke average (73.91), playing all 32 rounds on the season, as did Corpuz. Abdulghany posted a trio of top 10 finishes, seven in the top 19 and nine inside the top 30. She had five rounds under par on the season and nine of par or better.

Ruffels played 23 rounds as a freshman last year, posting a pair of top 7 finishes and three in the top 23. She joined Chang and Garvey with spring starts to their 2018 freshman seasons, all part of USC's postseason run.

Also back this season are juniors Divya Manthena and Leong, who both saw action last year. Manthena, in fact, was a starter on a pair of fall wins.

Nam, from Kailua, Hawaii, who will make her USC debut this week, is joined by two other freshman in Katherine Muzi from Walnut, Calif., and Georgia Carr, from Milltown, Ireland.

Players Mentioned

Alyaa Abdulghany

Georgia Carr

Jennifer Chang

Allisen Corpuz

Amelia Garvey

Aiko Leong

Divya Manthena

Katherine Muzi

Malia Nam

Gabriela Ruffels