Experience, that is, along with a group of talented newcomers. "By far, this will be probably the strongest recruiting year ever," notes Verhees, speaking of incoming freshmen like goalkeeper Sandra Draghi (Livermore/ Granada HS); defenders Katie Russell (Thousand Oaks/La Reina HS), Patricia Simons (Torrance/Bishop Montgomery HS) and Taja Toben (San Francisco/Saint Ignatius HS); midfielders Christine Cambra (Redondo Beach/ Bishop Montgomery HS), Kishandee Green (San Diego/Gompers Secondary School), and Meredith McMahon (Birmingham, MI/ Seaholm HS);Â and forward Sarah Ruiz (San Bruno/Saint Ignatius HS).
On Wednesday September 24, the Dons overwhelmed their fellow West Coast Conference Loyola Marymount Lions 3-0 on a Negoesco field engulfed by fog. Denise Kenyon struck first at 14:43 with a ground-ball goal to the left corner from 12 yards out. Kenyon was assisted by both Erin Killough and Kishandee Green when Killough moved down the left side and crossed the ball to Green who found Kenyon open in front of the net. Killough extended the Dons lead to 2-0 when she lofted an unassisted 15 yard shot into the upper right corner at 24:46. USF dominated Loyola-Marymount in a first half peppered with penalties and yellow cards. USF's Meredith McMahon and Loyala Merrymount's Cindy Corullo each received cards near the end of rhe first half. Co-Captain Kelly Bryant closed out the scoring at 59:30 when she converted a pass form Amy Yamamoto. "Loyola Marymount was an aggressive physical team who came out ready for a win," Verhees said. "This was a big win for us (TheFoghorn)."
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