Though the Dons weren't playing up to par, they were able to pull out a 1-0 victory. Following a missed a penalty kick, the Dons came back in thc second half and capitalized on a beautiful corner kick by sophomore Pam Riggs. Kim Nesteroff, recently promoted to captain, headed Riggs cross into SF State's goal for the lone score of the match.
The women's soccer team begin a whole new year as 16 players on the roster have a year or less of collegiate experience, yet many of these players are primed to help Riggs, last year's leading scorer, and team captain Sargent to contribute to an up-and-coming program. The young players have the talent that points to great potential for the future. Thc team this year is hoping for increased scoring and look to Riggs, Lucey, Alison Genrich, and Silva, a transfer from the University of Hawaii where she redshirted, to sharpen up the Dons attack.
USF returns leading scorers Silva, junior Laila Danielsen, junior Pam Riggs, Souza and Montgomery. Besides the offense, the defense will sorely miss Sargent but returns sophomore Brooke Tillemans and keeper Tonya Wingert, a freshman. The loss of Blackburn will be compensated by the hopeful return of injury redshirt Joanna Quninlivan. With Wingert and Quinlivan, the Dons have a flexible goalie tandem that can also play on the defense. Records were set this year. Silva scored three game-winning goals against Westmont, SF State, and Puget Sound tying her for the school record. Sargent set the consecutive game starts record with 73 straight games. The goalie tandem of Wingert and Blackburn set a new goals against average of 1.61. Blackburn ends her USF career with seven USF goalkeeping records and a career 12 shutouts (TheFoghorn).
