No. 1 USC Set To Open Season At ANNIKA Intercollegiate

The No. 1 USC women's golf team, a seven-time winner last season with eight golfers back who have started -- including five All-Americans -- kicks off the 2019-20 season at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at the Royal G.C. in Lake Elmo, Minn., Monday through Wednesday (Sept. 16-18).

The packed 12-team field includes USC, defending NCAA champion Duke, Texas, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Wake Forest, UCLA, Alabama, Minnesota, South Carolina and Arizona.

USC, Duke, Texas, Arkansas, Wake Forest and Arizona were six of the eight teams that played in the 2019 NCAA Championships match play playoff.

Teams will tee off beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT each day. Results will be available at Golfstat.com.

USC has won twice in the event's five-year tenure, capturing titles in 2015 and 2016. Trojan Karen Chung was medalist in 2015.

The Trojans, under second-year head coach Justin Silverstein and first-year assistant coach Katie Mitchell, will feature its first upperclassmen-heavy starting lineup in some time.

Opening the new season for the Trojans will be seniors Allisen Corpuz and Aiko Leong and juniors Gabriela Ruffels, Jennifer Chang and Alyaa Abdulghany. It marks the first time USC will have two seniors in the lineup (and on the roster) since the 2016-17 season.

Chang leads USC's returning All-American contingent as USC's lone first-teamer while Ruffels and sophomore Malia Nam are second teamers and Abdulghany and junior Amelia Garvey were honorable mention picks.

2018-2019 HIGHLIGHTS

* USC advanced to the 2019 NCAA Championships match play last season, extending its national-best streak of top 5 finishes to 14 straight. USC advanced to the NCAA Championships match play bracket for the fifth year in a row since it was instituted, one of just two teams to do so (Stanford is the other).

* USC's wins at the Windy City, Stanford Intercollegiate, East Lake Cup, Clover Cup, PING/ASU, Pac-12 Championships and NCAA Cle Elum Regional were the first seven for then-new head coach Justin Silverstein.

* Troy's seven wins matches its total in 2013 for the second most in program history behind only its record nine wins in 2014. USC has now won at least four tournaments in six of the past seven season.

* Chang, Ruffels, Nam and Garvey all earned 2019 All-Pac-12 first team honors, the second career honor for Chang. Abdulghany and Corpuz claimed honorable mention notice, the second in a row for both.

2019 SUMMER SUCCESS

The USC women's golf team, No. 1 for much of the 2018-19 season, had a huge off-season led by junior Gabriela Ruffels winning the 2019 U.S. Amateur and the 2019 North & South Amateur.

Ruffels, on a hot streak unmatched in amateur golf this year, used three birdies over the final four holes to defeat Stanford's Albane Valenzuela, 1up, to win the 119^th U.S. Women's Amateur on Aug. 11 at Old Waverly G.C. in West Point, Miss.

Ruffels won the North & South Amateur Championship in July with five straight match play wins and then made it an amazing 11 match play victories in a row, defeating six top fellow amateurs to become USC's fourth U.S. Amateur winner. She joined USC's previous title holders in Jennifer Song (2009), Becky Lucidi (2002) and Jill McGill (1993).

Ruffels won the North & South with a 1up semifinal win and a 2up win over fell Aussie Doey Choi in the final.

She joined Jennifer Chang and Malia Nam in the Arnold Palmer Cup. Ruffels, finishing 2-1-1 during the event, helped the International side defeat the U.S. Overall, USC's trio finished 6-3-3 in their combined action.

USC came close to holding both the U.S. and Ladies British Am trophies as junior Amelia Garvey was a finalist in the latter in June, falling in the final on the 18^th hole, 1 down. Garvey was among the top 3 in stroke play and won five matches to reach the final.

Garvey joined Ruffels and teammates Allisen Corpuz, Malia Nam and Jennifer Chang in the match play of the North & South. Corpuz was medalist in the event at 3-under 139 and reached the quarterfinals, as did Chang. In the U.S. Am, Ruffels was joined by Corpuz and Nam again, Corpuz reaching the round of 16.

Junior Alyaa Abdulghany was the the low amateur at the Women's California State Open, taking second overall, and followed it with the title at the SCGA Women's Amateur while sophomore Katherine Muzi posted a top 5 finish.

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Players Mentioned

Alyaa Abdulghany

Allisen Corpuz

Amelia Garvey

Aiko Leong

Katherine Muzi

Malia Nam

Gabriela Ruffels