But will the No. 19 Women of Troy may make coach Ali Khosroshahin an old man by season’s end? USC’s coach doesn’t lack for confidence, but watch the video of his take on a 1-0 loss at home against San Diego and it’s difficult to picture the championship celebration that took place just three years ago.
All right, that all sounds a little dire. It may well turn out that Khosroshahin has the foundation of another run at the College Cup in his highly touted freshman class; it’s just not quite time in the building process to move the furniture in yet.
USC started five freshmen in the opener — Shelby Church, Autumn Altamirano, Haley Boysen, Elizabeth Eddy and Allie Harrison. The result sounds like, well, what you would expect with five freshmen. That the Women of Troy managed just eight shots and two corner kicks in 90 minutes suggests the coach’s stated concerns about poor passing weren’t just a perfectionist’s pickiness.
It’s also worth noting USC played without midfielder Ashli Sandoval, expected to be a key stabilizing presence in returning from a knee injury that ended her season after just five games. I haven’t found any negative news regarding Sandoval’s status in recent days and can only assume for now the team was just being cautious with her return. Assuming Sandoval returns (she led the team with nine assists in 2008), that playmaking ought to get a decided boost.
Megan Ohai and Karter Haug, holdovers from the 2007 title winners who seem like mainstays, came off the bench. As with Sandoval, there doesn’t seem to be any word out there as to whether those roles were tactical or health-related, although Ohai, in particular, does seem to face stiff competition for playing time in a crowded attack.
For its part, San Diego has a knack for doing this (although more often at home than on the road). The Toreros tied UCLA early last season and beat Santa Clara during West Coast Conference play. Two years ago, they took USC to overtime in the season opener for both teams before losing. Even at those times when Ada Greenwood’s program is itself not a candidate to be ranked, and this group will surely get serious consideration courtesy of the win, it’s usually a team that can get a result on any given day.
All-WCC forward Stephanie Ochs got the assist, but it’s sort of fitting, in light of USC’s recruiting class, that it went to Devaney Savage, one of three true freshman in San Diego’s starting lineup.
USC now gets a week off to look at tape, as Khosroshahin put it in the video on USC’s website, before it takes the field for two games in Texas next weekend, first at TCU and then in Austin against Texas. (San Diego also skips play Sunday, returning to the field at home next week against Arizona and Michigan. And given the ups and downs of its season last fall — the result against UCLA followed by a 5-0 loss against Kansas, the Toreros jump to the top of the list of teams to keep an eye on in winnable games against BCS conference teams).
This is a freshman class that may well define the Khosroshahin era at USC almost as much as the title he won in his first season at the school. But while USC may have been the favorite Friday based on ranking, the opponent and the circumstances suggest labeling the result an upset isn’t fair to either side.
And what we know about the Women of Troy is what already knew; they’re really young.
Graham Hays 