After starting with a dismal 1-7 record, the USF women's soccer team has won five of its last six matches heading into the final weekend of the 1998 regular season. The Dons will host nationally-ranked Portland and Santa Clara at Negoesco Stadium this weekend where they hope to knock off the West Coast Conference's big guns. San Francisco is currently 6-9-1 overall and 2-3 against WCC opponents. Much of the recent success can be attributed to the Dons finally finding the net, especially when the defense allows less than two goals a game. "It's good to see that we're finally scoring," said senior defender Patricia Simons. In order to defeat the WCC's perennial powers, USF will have to continue its solid defense and crucial goal-scoring. The Dons play host to WCC powerhouses Portland and Santa Clara this weekend. Santa Clara has the nation's best defense, allowing only 0.18 goals per game while sophomore goalkeeper Crystal Gordon has the country's best goals against average at 0.15. On the other side of the ball, Santa Clara features Mandy Clemens who is currently tied for sixth nationally in the assists per game category. The Dons will have to shut down any type of play-making by Clemens if they hope to upset the Broncos in the final regular season match for both teams. Defender Patrician Simons is the Dons choice for marking a player like Clemens, however Simons believes Clemens will be less of a threat than her statistics make her out to be. "She's good, but we've shut down players that are better than her," said Simons. "I don't think we'll have to mark up on her too much." Simons added that USF will not ignore Clemens either, but keep an eye on her to make sure she does little or no damage. "Santa Clara is our last game as seniors so everyone is preparing for it," said Simons.
Prior to the showdown with Santa Clara, Portland will visit the City tomorrow with its 5th place ranking in the most recent Soccer America poll. The Pilots have posted a 4-1 record in the WCC (14-2-2 overall) and fly in on a two-game win streak. "Our best game each year has always been against Portland," said Simons. "We're going in focused and I feel confident that we can get a win against them." During USF's 1-7 slide, the Dons gave up two goals or less in five of the eight matches, but scored only six. Now that USF's offense has kicked in, San Francisco is getting the results it wanted earlier in the season. "We just got sick of losing," said Simons. "About half way through the season we all sat down as a team, and decided to pick it up (TheFoghorn)."
