Seven former Pacific 10 Conference players made the NBA Finals this month and seven more -- USC's O.J. Mayo, UCLA's Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook, Stanford's Brook and Robin Lopez, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and Cal's Ryan Anderson -- are projected to be first-round picks tonight. . . .
Also projected to be a first-round pick is JaVale McGee, a 7-footer from Nevada and son of Pam McGee, who teamed with twin sister, Paula, and Cheryl Miller to lead USC to NCAA women's basketball titles in 1983 and 1984. . . .
Paula at the time was Darryl Strawberry's girlfriend. . . .
Former USC forward Brian Scalabrine of the Boston Celtics wasn't the only bench-riding athlete with Southland ties who donned a uniform for a championship-clinching celebration after a game in which he did not dress. . . .
Ageless defenseman Chris Chelios, who summers in Malibu, did the same with the Detroit Red Wings after sitting out the Stanley Cup finals. . . .
Paola Moreno, a senior on USC's NCAA champion women's golf team this spring, and incoming Trojans freshman Jennifer Song are among the amateurs competing this week in the U.S. Women's Open at Edina, Minn. . . .
Among the seven Pac-10 players in the NBA Finals were Trojans Brian Scalabrine and Gabe Pruitt.
There's a lot to look forward to for USC women's hoops next season. In addition to returning players and key newcomers returning from injury, they've also got an impressive freshman class.
Women's Basketball - Nadia Parker had 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Women of Troy shut down UCLA 49-36. It was a historic low point total for the Bruins and half of their season average. It was USC's seventh straight win over UCLA ... USC is in sole possession of fourth place in the Pac-10 and could be a dark horse candidate for the NCAA tournament.
Women's Water Polo - USC opened up MPSF play with wins over No. 10 UC Irvine and No. 8 Arizona State. Michelle Stein was named the league's player of the week after scoring seven goals on the road trip.
Women's Swimming and Diving - In its last dual meet of the season, No. 25 USC beat No. 15 UCLA, 158-142.
Baseball - The Trojans open the season on Friday with a three-game series at Florida International.
Men's Tennis - No. 6 USC fell to No. 7 Texas at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle over the weekend.
Women's Tennis - Coming off two losses, No. 11 USC cruised to a 7-0 victory over No. 52 San Diego.
Men's Volleyball - USC continued its oddly symmetrical league play last week, beating UC San Diego and losing to Long Beach State. The Trojans take a break from MPSF this weekend and instead will play in the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass.
Lexus Gauntlet - It's all but over. USC leads 50 to 17.5, and it takes 55 points to clinch at least a split title. This will continue the odd tradition USC and UCLA alternating wins of the annual trophy. It's oddly like men's volleyball.
Women's Basketball - The Trojans recovered from a rough road trip by returning to the Galen Center and sweeping the Washington schools. USC is 11-1 at home. Against Washington State, the Women of Troy were led by Nadia Parker (23 points) and Heather Oliver (21 points), who both had career highs. The WSU game was on Think Pink day at USC, a tribute to raise awareness for breast cancer. It was also the Trojans' chance to host Coach June Daugherty, who has made a comeback this season after a different sort of medical crisis.
Women's Tennis - No. 8 USC fell in the consolation quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships this past weekend. It was the Trojans' third straight 4-3 decision, and came after a seven-hour match the night before. Top singles Lindsey Nelson and Amanda Fink won their matches.
Men's Tennis - The Trojans are 7-0 after downing No. 27 Boise State at home this weekend. They're head to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships ranked sixth in the nation.
Men's Volleyball - No. 9 USC has had one loss and one victory in all five weeks of league play, but last week's win was a sweep of rival UCLA -- pushing Troy even further ahead in the Lexus Gauntlet.
Golf - In men's action, sophomores Rory Hie and Jamie Lovemark tied for fifth individually at the UH-Hilo Intercollegiate in Waikoloa. During the tournament Hie shot a school record 62 on the par-70 course. The Women of Troy are competing at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes.
Swimming and Diving - USC's men's and women's squads both lost to No. 3 Stanford over the weekend in their final competition this season at McDonald's Swim Stadium. Next up, Pac-10 Championships.
The Department of Homecourt Security has released footage of Saturday's incident at the Galen Center.
USC's Mark Haas put together a video recap for USCTrojans.com (click here to watch for free) that shows some emotions flaring but nothing serious going down in the closing seconds of USC's victory over UCLA in women's basketball.
As reported earlier, there was a "fight" between the teams, but let's be careful not to exaggerate it.
To set the scene, USC dominated almost the entire game, but the Bruins came within a shot down the stretch. A hard foul led to the benches clearing, some shoving, and multiple ejections.
Perhaps "the good fight" is one that doesn't really happen.
Certainly the good news for the Women of Troy is a winning record in the Pac-10 (4-3), including key victories over national powerhouse Stanford and crosstown rival UCLA (their 6th straight against the Bruins). The latter came against a crowd of 8,545, the fourth largest in the program's history.
The Trojans' success continues to be impressive after the loss of their top freshman and sophomore to injuries. Imagine the men's team playing without O.J. Mayo and Taj Gibson. (Of course, the women's team gets more contribution from their upperclassmen.)
It's been a particularly rough week in the land of Troy. From Reggie Bush to men's hoops. Feh.
Even men's volleyball got crushed by Cal State Northridge, winning the first game but dropping the next three.
To buoy Trojan spirits, here's a quick story from legendary USC football Coach John Robinson about motivation. The video was shot at this week's national football coaches convention in Anaheim, and we'll have more highlights next week.
Also, if USC fans somehow missed it, the women's basketball team scored a giant upset over #2 ranked Stanford last week (USC has a free in-house recap). Due to some bad timing the Women of Troy did not get the love they deserved on this blog, but needless to say it was a huge moment for the team and could go down as their highlight of the year.
Also, Amy Rodriguez has returned to the U.S. women's national soccer team roster, and four other players from USC made it to national squads at lower levels.
The final buzzer sounded on the Trojan's basketball game against UC Riverside Saturday night and it was over -- not just the game, but just the entire Fall sports schedule.
Spring will start quickly (using the new year as a line in the sand) with the Rose Bowl and some hoops games, so this is a logical time for top ten lists. While considering the top ten USC sports stories of Fall 2007, it was obvious that certain words kept coming up.
To give things a new twist, here are the top ten words of the Fall. These aren't here because they are the "best," but they are the most significant, dominating both headlines and public discourse.
Injury. They happen all the time in sports and nobody is immune, but this semester had an inordinate number of setbacks for Trojan athletes. Men's basketball got thumped by Mercer without Davon Jefferson (knee) and Daniel Hackett (jaw), and still hadn't completely gelled by the time the faced their first real challenges. Women's hoops lost two of their top players before the season even began. The soccer team's defense was thinned out. Cross country couldn't field their lone NCAA championship competitor due to illness. Volleyball learned to adjust for awhile without Diana Copenhagen. What's missing? Oh yeah -- football. Early in the season, somebody inside Heritage Hall said the mounting injuries weren't unusual. A couple weeks later, newspapers were dedicating a mind-numbing number of column inches to injury reports. A healthy John David Booty or fewer chinks in the offensive line, and the Trojans might only be practicing on New Years Day.
Streak. While a couple big ones ended (top-10 rankings and home victories), the football program maintained their most sacred one: Pac-10 crowns. As Pete Carroll's pre-season goal, winning the league (or a share of it) for six straight years has also resulted in six straight BCS appearances.
Men's Basketball - Taking on Cal Poly before a light crowd of 5,321 on Saturday, it seemed like USC could have sleep-walked through the game. It wouldn't have felt out of place if the Trojan Marching Band took a page from a Warner Brother's cartoon and played Edvard Grieg's Morning Mood. With some typically solid D and an offense showing signs of improvement, USC waltzed away with a 78-55 victory. There's one more game USC can't look past (UC Riverside) before the start of Pac-10 play ... O.J. Mayo spent Christmas in LA instead of going home, presumably working maniacally on his jump shot. That's some serious work ethic.
Women's Basketball - USC won their own 4-team Women of Troy Basketball Classic last week. They downed Grambling State 78-45, then won the championship 75-68 over Portland State. The Trojans are undefeated at home this year. Heather Oliver was named MVP of the tournament with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists.
Women's Volleyball - After making it the the NCAA Final Four, the Women of Troy finished the season ranked #3 by the AVCA with a 29-5 record. It was the fourth time the Trojans made the semifinals in the past six years. Asia Kaczor (first team) and Taylor Carico (second team) were named All-Americans.
Men's Water Polo - After finishing as NCAA runner-up for the second year in a row, USC had six players honored by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. Senior Tommy Corcoran made the All-American first-team for the first time, and has been recognized on some level for the past three years. Senior Adam Shilling has also been honored for three years, making the second-team in 2007 along with sophomore Matt Sagehorn. Sophomores J.W. Krumpholz and Shea Buckner and senior Gabor Sarusi earned honorable mentions.
Men's Tennis - Trojan alumnus Stan Smith, an NCAA and Wimbledon champ, was honored earlier this month with the Davis Cup Award of Excellence.
Men's Basketball - #25 USC stomped Delaware 83-54 on Monday night thanks to 68% shooting. With the margin reaching as many as 36, it was never really in question ... O.J. Mayo became the first Trojan to score in double digits in his first 10 career games ... Around halftime, Jonathan Kay of Rivals pondered whether the Trojans would call a single timeout in the game. They didn't. As the assembled press corp scratched their heads over what else was worth writing about, the band kept counting down the game clock for Delaware -- several seconds early.
Women's Volleyball - After an upset sent the Trojans to the NCAA Final Four in Sacramento, the Women of Troy fell to Stanford in the semis ... All-American Asia Kaczor was named one of four finalists for the Honda Award, presented to the nation's top player in every sport.
Women's Basketball - Following a difficult midwest trip, USC got back on track with a 55-52 victory over Pepperdine last week. Nadia Parker had 17, all in the second half ... This weekend they'll host the Women of Troy Basketball Classic, including Portland, Hawaii, and Grambling.
Women's Soccer - Rankings and awards are inconsistent in college soccer. USC ended the season without a first team All-American.
Ask anybody, and they're probably satisfied with the national
championship instead. The fact that they did it as a unit without individual standouts says
a lot about this group -- and their coach ... It would be unfair to say nobody is getting recognition. Goalkeeper Kristin Olsen, who only made the Pac-10's second team despite dominating almost every statistical category, is a finalist for her sport's Honda Award. The sophomore was already named top defensive player in the NCAA Tournament ... Ashley Nick and Kristin Olsen were named to the NSCAA All-America Second
Team.
Quarterback Debate - In order to address a previous football question on this blog, I arbitrarily asked students at the basketball game if they preferred Mark Sanchez or Mitch Mustain. Sanchez won in a bigger blowout than the one on the court that evening. I'll be the first to say that this doesn't really prove anything, other than Mustain's low-profile on campus. That will change come Spring camp. I doubt there'll be much more to add until then.
Women's Volleyball - It took an upset over the Longhorns to pave the way to Cow Town. The 5th- seeded Trojans knocked off 4th-seeded Texas in a three-game sweep to advance to the NCAA final four in Sacramento. USC was led by senior star Asia Kaczor with 17 kills. Kaczor was named MVP of the regional tournament. Dianne Copenhagen (13 kills against Texas) and Jessica Gysin joined Kaczor on the All-Regional team ... This marks the fourth time in six years that the Trojans have advanced to the semifinals, where they will face Stanford on Thursday. The other semifinal will pit Penn State against Cal, who shocked top-ranked Nebraska in the last round. The two winners will play for the national title on Saturday.
Men's Basketball - USC's 65-44 loss to Fresno Pacific gets relegated to the roundup, not because it was an ugly loss to a poorly regarded opponent, but because it was an exhibition. In fact, Coach TIm Floyd kept his top five scorers on the bench for the entire game knowing the result wouldn't count toward anything. It was a great opportunity to test out some backups and show them how much they needed to improve. It was not, as Conquest Chronicles points out, a reason for USC fans to boo. Tsk, tsk.
Women's Basketball - A Midwest swing was more of a miss for the Women of Troy, who fell to Nebraska, 87-69, and Michigan, 82-61. USC dropped to 4-4 on the season. It will take on Pepperdine at home at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Women's Soccer - Maybe you missed it, but the USC women's soccer team is the greatest college team in the nation. We're pretty sure nobody saw that coming a couple of months ago.
Women's Soccer - The soccer team is the big news on campus (even Pete Carroll was raving about it in his weekly press conference). The Women of Troy made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament for this first time in the program's history, and will host Florida at the Coliseum at 7 p.m. Saturday.
USC played its first two rounds at Missouri, smoking Creighton, 3-0, before edging Mizzou, 1-0. Ashley Nick had a huge week, scoring the winning header against Missouri in double overtime. She connected off of a flip throw-in by Megan Ohai (pictured left). We don't have video of the play, but this is what the rare move looks like.
Besides netting the first game-winner of her career, Nick was named to this year's All-Pac-10 first team. Amy Rodriguez (M/F) and Kristin Olsen (GK) earned second team honors, while freshmen Kasey Johnson (D) and Megan Ohai (M) each garnered an honorable mention. Ashli Sandoval (M) joined Johnson and Ohai on the All-Freshman Team. Janessa Currier, who did not get any league awards, got national recognition with an honorable mention by Top Drawer Soccer.
Florida, who also went to double OT in its last game (actually beyond -- into a shoot-out), will be USC's first opponent in the Coliseum since 2001. It's the third time USC has hosted the tournament there, where they have a 26-5-3 record overall. USC normally plays on McAlister Field (which doesn't have lighting for night games). Tickets can be purchased on game day at Gate 4. It's $10 for adults and $5 for kids under 12.
Men's Water Polo - The Trojans sunk the UC Irvine Anteaters at home last weekend and finished the season with a perfect record at home. They haven't lost at McDonald Swim Stadium since 2004 ... USC will be a #2 seed in Berkeley this weekend for the MPSF league championships and will start off against #7 UCSB. Women's Basketball - The Women of Troy got back on track last weekend with their first victory of the season. Brynn Cameron led the way with 16 points and Camille LeNoir returned from injury to score 9 in a 70-57 win over Colorado ... USC is currently heading to the Bahamas to play in the Junkanoo Jam. For more on Thanksgiving tournaments, check out this article by Lara Boyko (who regularly covers USC sports). Women's Volleyball - After beating #5 Washington and unranked Washington State, the Trojans took over the Huskies' ranking in the polls. They'll head to the desert this weekend to finish up the regular season against Arizona and Arizona State, then wait for NCAA Tournament brackets to be announced on Sunday ... Asia Kaczor was named Pac-10 Player of the Week. She set school and conference records with 44 kills and 100 attempts against Washington. This is the fifth time she's been given the honor.
Women's Swimming and Diving - USC beat Ohio State in a dual meet and multiple swimmers hit NCAA qualifying times.
Men's Water Polo - Watching #2 USC fall to #1 Cal by a score of 10-9 was surreal. It
wasn't that it was raining in the pool (what difference did that make,
really?), but that Cal is always a wacky place to watch sports. The
"It's all your fault!" chants directed at USC goalie Adam Shilling were
very Berkeley. The post-game celebration of Euro pop/trance and Pabst
Blue Ribbon was downright bizarre. The USC fan wearing a hybrid Ugg
boot/Shetland sheepdog was also out of place. As for the important part, USC dropped their second straight after opening the year 13-0 ... The Trojans saved face by hammering Pacific 14-9 the following day ... Matt Sagehorn had five goals on the weekend.
Women's Volleyball - The Women of Troy lost to Oregon and beat Oregon State. Asia Kaczor tied a school record with 8 aces and also had 22 kills against the Beavers ... USC fell from 6th to 8th in the rankings. They finish their home schedule this weekend against the Washington schools ... NCAA tournament selection is less than two weeks away.
Women's Basketball - The Trojans didn't trail against UCSB for the entire game -- until overtime. They wound up losing 69-63. Brynn Cameron got back on track after missing last season. She led the way with 18 points. Morghan Medlock (17) and Aarika Hughes (11) both had career scoring highs ... Camille LeNoir is expected back against Colorado this weekend.
Women's Cross Country - Sarah Cocco placed 18th at NCAA regionals and became the first freshman from USC to reach the NCAA championship meet. She's one of only four freshmen runners to make it without being a member of a qualifying team. The squad was 16th at regionals and will not advance.
Men's Golf - The Trojans are done until February. Last week the team finished third at the CordeValle Colligiate. Sophomore Rory Hie and freshman Tim Sluiter tied for ninth. Jamie Lovemark struggled with strep throat.
Swimming and Diving - The men slipped by Arizona State in their dual meet 150-149. Richard Gosper's 50 freestyle qualified as an NCAA consideration time. The women fell to the Sun Devils. Whitney Henson had a season best in the 500yd freestyle.
Lexus Gauntlet - USC and UCLA haven't gone head-to-head since last week, so it's still tied up. Did anybody notice that ESPN gave some love to the volleyball rivalry?
Women's Soccer - The Women of Troy earned their highest ranking ever, landing at 3rd in Soccer Buzz and 6th in Soccer America ... After taking a week off, the Women of Troy got back in action last week by defeating Oregon, 1-0, and Oregon State, 5-0 ... With the two complete-game shutouts, Kristen Olsen was named Pac-10 player of the week. She's the first Trojan to win that honor in two years ... Nini Loucks suffered a knee injury and had an MRI today. She could be the fourth defender lost for the season. USC leads the league in shutouts even without the services of Meagan Holmes, Kat Stolpa and Laura McKee.
Men's Water Polo - The Trojans piled up four wins this weekend to take the SoCal Championship for 5th straight year, just weeks after capturing another NorCal Championship. They're now 12-0 and a unanimous #1 in the nation ... Shae Buckner was named the MPSF player of the week thanks to his 8 goals (including 2 in the semifinal over UCLA and 4 in the final against Stanford).
Women's Volleyball - The fourth-ranked Women of Troy also swept the Oregon schools on the hardcourt last week. They breezed to 3-0 victories over both Oregon and Oregon State, including a season-high 16 blocks against the Ducks ... Diana Copenhagen is still week-to-week ... Setter Taylor Carico's shots to the opposing left sideline (instead of setting and different than a sneak or dump) have been dubbed "310 Kills" after her Manhattan Beach area code.
Women's Swimming and Diving - The 14th-ranked Trojans easily took down Oregon State in the first dual meet of the season ... Both the men's and women's teams travel to Notre Dame this Friday. If you happen to be in South Bend early, you can cheer them on.
Baseball - Rehashing a note from last week ... Don't think you can get anything for free at a Mercedes dealership? Head Coach Chad Kreuter will be speaking at Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel on Thursday, Nov. 1, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The first 200 baseball fans who RSVP get free admission, food, drinks and maybe even a couple of rounds of golf. Kreuter will discuss the 2008 season and the Trojan Baseball Classic Golf Tournament -- then he'll raffle away a couple of free entries. RSVP by Oct. 30 to (213) 740-2733.
Basketball - Both the men and women started regular practice this week ... Gary Parrish ranked the men 17th headed into the season and had some pointed comments about Mayo and Hackett ... ESPN's Insider looks at the men's team in their free preview.
Midnight Madness went down for the first time in Tim Floyd's tenure with some high-flying action by his young squad. Though O.J. Mayo opted out of the dunk contest (we'll have video of that later), the scrimmage featured a few slams by the school's insta-star. The team put on an impressive offensive exhibition, leaving their defensive ability to the crowd's imagination.
What may have stood out the most about the women's squad was the fact that they know how to do the Soulja Boy dance. It was funny watching the Women of Troy perform 2007's version of the Macarena, though not nearly as eye-popping as the Longhorns dancing onto another team's field.
More pictures after the jump. If anybody got a shot of the players spelling out "Fight On!" on the court, please share it on Your Scene. And if you have a video of last night's Soulja Boy routine, send us the YouTube link.
It's been a busy football week, but a belated roundup means we get some late-breaking good news from the links.
Women's Tennis - USC had a huge week at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational. The team picked up its first tournament win of the year, beating Arizona State by nine strokes and finishing well ahead of a field of West Coast rivals. Sophomore Belen Mozo came from behind to tie the leader heading into the final round, then won her first collegiate title on a scorecard tiebreaker.
Men's Water Polo - The #1 ranked Trojans beat Stanford in convincing fashion on Saturday. We all know it wasn't on the gridiron -- try the pool. USC men's water polo remained undefeated by shutting out the third-ranked Cardinal in the second half to claim a 7-2 victory. As we've seen all season, scoring was spread around. Five players hit the back of the net ... Goalie Adam Shilling was named MPSF Co-Player of the Week after allowing just two 6-on-5 goals and making 10 saves and two steals ... The team remains a unanimous selection for #1.
Women's Cross Country - Coach Tom Walsh said it could take a couple months for freshman Zsofia Erdelyi to adjust after moving to USC from Hungary. Looks like adjustment time is over. Erdelyi set a course record at the UCSD Triton Invitational, leading the Women of Troy to a second-place finish overall. It's the third consecutive individual victory by a Trojan. The last two were by Sarah Cocco, who was sick and unable to compete in San Diego.
Baseball - Don't think you can get anything for free at a Mercedes dealership? Head Coach Chad Kreuter will be speaking at Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel on Thursday, Nov. 1, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The first 200 baseball fans who RSVP get free admission, food, drinks and maybe even a couple of rounds of golf. Kreuter will discuss the 2008 season and the Trojan Baseball Classic Golf Tournament -- then he'll raffle away a couple of free entries. RSVP by Oct. 30 to (213) 740-2733.
Women's Volleyball - The Women of Troy dropped the first showdown in the Lexus Gauntlet last week, falling at UCLA in their second Pac-10 loss of the year. Ranked one spot ahead of the #5 Bruins, USC fell, 3-1 ... Senior co-captain Diana Copenhagen could be out for a while. She is now listed as week-to-week because of an abdominal strain ... USC will honor Paula Weishoff on "All-Time Great Night" this Thursday at the Galen Center. The ceremony will take place during the match against Oregon State, which begins at 7 p.m.
Men's Tennis - Sophomore Robert Farah made an impressive run at the Polo Ralph Lauren Men's All-American last weekend, becoming the first Trojan to reach the championship match in two decades. He was also the first qualifier to make it that far since 2001. He won the first set against fourth-ranked Travis Helgeson of Georgia before falling, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Women's Basketball - The nation's top recruit two years ago, guard Jacki Gemelos will miss her second straight season due to another surgery on her right knee. She will join incoming high school All-American Stefanie Gilbreath, who also tore her ACL, on the bench this year.
Men's Water Polo - The Trojans started league action this weekend, taking down #5 Pepperdine to extend their home winning streak to 24. They should be #1 in the polls for the fourth week in a row ... When people say USC is deep, they're not talking about the pool. Coach Jovan Vavic has so much talent on his hands that he subs six players at once like an ice hockey line. They're making sure to spread the wealth, too. In each game so far, the team has had a different scoring leader. Eighteen of 22 field players to get in the water have hit the back of the net, and nobody has more than seven goals. One of those players to get on the scoreboard this season is highly touted Trevor Clark, who missed the last two years with injuries. ... Sometimes the stiffest competition is in your own backyard. All of the top 10 schools in men's water polo are in California.
Women's Volleyball - The fourth-ranked Trojans took down both Arizona schools last week to open Pac-10 play. They've started the season 12-0 for the 7th time in team history (four of those seasons ended in a national championship). ... Freshman Geena Urengo (libero) is leading the Pac-10 with 0.52 service aces per game. ... Like men's water polo, women's volleyball is best in the West. All of the Pac-10 had a winning record prior to league play, and the top seven teams are a combined 73-5. ... USC will be honoring two former players this year. Paula Weishoff, a three-time Olympian and MVP of the 1992 Olympic squad, led the Trojans to their third national championship in 1980. She will get special recognition at the match against Oregon State on Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.
Women's Soccer - The Women of Troy had a pair of 2-0 wins over the weekend to improve to 6-1-1. Ranked as high as #14, they host the nation's top program (Portland) on Saturday at 1 p.m. ... USC had a heralded recruiting class a couple years ago, but this year's crop may rival them in productivity. The winning goal in all six victories has come from a freshman. ... Three players have played every minute so far: Kristin Olsen, Janessa Currier and Karter Haug. Olsen, the starting goalkeeper, has recorded four consecutive shutouts.
Women's Cross Country - Freshman Sarah Cocco has run in two meets this year -- and won both. The team placed third overall at the Pepperdine Invitational this weekend.
Women's Basketball - The offseason news has been more bitter than sweet for women's hoops. The top recruit in 2006, Jacki Gemelos, missed last season with a knee injury. She reinjured it this month and may miss another year. She'll have it scoped next week. ... Adding insult injury to injury, 2007's top recruit, Stefanie Gilbreath, is also out with an ACL problem. ... These two injuries are compounded by the loss of last season's top three scorers. Jamie Hagiya, Chloe Kerr and Shay Murphy are all headed overseas to play professionally in Greece. Murphy is also one of six Trojans in the WNBA.
Baseball - Former Trojan coach Mike Gillespie is going to coach at UC Irvine. So much for retirement. ... With MLB's regular season wrapping up, Trojan Brian Bannister (now with the Kansas City Royals) is a dark horse for AL Rookie of the Year. He was AL Rookie of the Month in August.
Golf - USC's men finished third at the Fall Preview tournament this weekend. Women's play will end on Wednesday.
Adam Rose learned about the highs and lows of USC athletics while going to school. As a freshman, he watched the football team crash to the bottom of the Pac 10. By the time he was a senior, he was in the stands for a National Championship. In between, he liked to argue points as a member of the Trojan Debate Squad. Nowadays, he's just looking to tell a good story. He is currently Sports Editor for LAist, where he covers a wide range of local action. He can also be seen weekly on KNBC 4's News Raw. Adam manages special events in the sports community when he isn't participating himself (he staggered through the LA Marathon and can often be found on local soccer fields). If you have a question about the Trojans or just want to give him a piece of your mind, email: adam@laist.com.
