USD Women's Soccer 2004

18

2003 SEASON REVIEW

USD MAKES 5TH CONSECUTIVE POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT

by Amanda Piechowski

A new era began for the San Diego women's soccer program in 2003 when Ada Greenwood was elevated to th e school's head coach after serving as USD's top assistant for the past five seasons. Assuming com– mand of program rich in soccer tradition, Greenwood and his Toreros conquered one of the nation's most challenging schedules, reaching the NCAA College Cup Tournament for a school record fifth consecutive season. San Diego started the 2003 campaign by dominating its first five oppo– nents defensively, shutting out Long Beach State, UNLV, Northern Ari– zona, Vanderbilt and Oregon State. As the season progressed, so did the Toreros. USO defeated a pair of nationally ranked teams in the form of 20th-ranked Loyola Marymount and 12th-ranked Arizona State. The most pivotal moment of the year came with just two minutes re– maining in the regular season. Trailing by a goal in the waning moments against the d efending national champions and third ranked Pilots of Port– land, Torero senior Brenna Mullen scored her team-leading sixth goal allowing San Diego a 2-2 tie. The comeback would send San Diego to the NCAA Tournament and Los Angeles to face the Pac-10 champs and nation's fourth-seed UCLA.

BrennaMullen was honored in regional and nationalpublications.Jarberslellarplay in 2003.

Despite a spirited effort against the Bruins, San Diego yielded a pair of first half goals and lost by a final score of 2-0. The Toreros finish ed the 2003 season with an overall record of 9-8-4, with eight of USD's 20 opponents qualifying for postseason play.

The Torero defense, led by goalkeeper Libby Basse tt and defender's Alexis Obeji, Kaitlyn Pruett and Cristina Romero, was arguably the best in the West Coast Conference. As a team, USO allowed only 22 goals in 21 games, ranking first in the conference in goals against, with an average of 0.96 per match. Five Toreros earned All-West Coast Conference honors after the end of regular season pla y. Junior's Kaitlyn Pruett and Marie Claude-Henry were selected to the West Coast Conference sec– ond team. USO senior Brenna Mullen was named to the WCC's second team and was also chosen as a member of the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week for outstanding pl ay during the weekend of October 3-5, scoring the game-winning goals against both Ari– zona and 12th-ranked Arizona State. With eight shutouts in 2003, senior goalkeeper Libby Bassett re– ceived an All-West Coast Conference Honorable Mention recog– nition for her exceptional play and junior Brooke Roby was also a 2003 All-WCC Honorable Mention for the second straight season. The tradition of soccer excellence at USO has brought the Univer– sity national recognition that the entire campus community con– tinues to enjoy. As Greenwood continues to build the Torero pro– gram as one of the nation 's best, the ensuing seasons promise to d eliver Torero fans some of the best collegia te soccer the na tion ha s to offer.

Torero keeper Libby Bassett set a single-season saves record (94) in 2003 en route Lo shutting out eight dif/erent opponents.

USD WOMEN'S SOCCER NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES - 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1996