Written by USC blog contributor, Andie Hagemann
Halfway through the 2012 season, the Women of Troy are primed to take on their remaining opponents after playing in two wild overtime games in Arizona. Under the leadership of senior forward Samantha Johnson, the program is on the rise.
Johnson is known for her aggressive style of play and her feistiness fuels the Trojans offense. "It works to my advantage when I am playing smart," Johnson said. "When I don't play emotional, it works for me and with emotion, it works against me."
Her competitive edge got the best of her in last week's duel against Arizona State as Johnson received a red card, forcing USC to play down two players (Autumn Altamirano was forced to the sideline after incurring two yellow cards).
"I fouled the girl on purpose to slow the play down and so she wasn't really happy about that because the game had been really scrappy," Johnson said. "We both let our emotions get the best of us and I was given a red card. I was upset because I felt like I let my team down."
Johnson leads the Trojans with four goals this season - two of which were game-winners (versus San Diego and in OT against Washington). During her career at USC, Johnson has scored 14 goals. As a junior, she made school history as she scored a goal 14 seconds into the match against Washington State.
Halfway through the 2012 season, the Women of Troy are primed to take on their remaining opponents after playing in two wild overtime games in Arizona. Under the leadership of senior forward Samantha Johnson, the program is on the rise.
Johnson is known for her aggressive style of play and her feistiness fuels the Trojans offense. "It works to my advantage when I am playing smart," Johnson said. "When I don't play emotional, it works for me and with emotion, it works against me."Her competitive edge got the best of her in last week's duel against Arizona State as Johnson received a red card, forcing USC to play down two players (Autumn Altamirano was forced to the sideline after incurring two yellow cards).
"I fouled the girl on purpose to slow the play down and so she wasn't really happy about that because the game had been really scrappy," Johnson said. "We both let our emotions get the best of us and I was given a red card. I was upset because I felt like I let my team down."
Johnson leads the Trojans with four goals this season - two of which were game-winners (versus San Diego and in OT against Washington). During her career at USC, Johnson has scored 14 goals. As a junior, she made school history as she scored a goal 14 seconds into the match against Washington State.
Johnson and the Women of Troy are looking to correct the mistakes of the past as they begin the second half of the season. "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to execute, play well, represent our university as we only have so many games left," Johnson said. "I think we are kind of getting away from the process of being successful and so we are looking at the end results of that."
A truly selfless player, Samantha Johnson is more concerned about helping build the dream team for the future rather than focusing on personal goals. As USC's roster boasts mainly freshmen, Johnson has stepped in to assist the younger players in becoming accustomed to collegiate play.
"I don't have many personal goals set for myself for this season," Johnson said. "I am working with the freshmen in making sure they have a good experience because I only have so many games left and I want to leave them with a nice program to come back to and build off of."
The Women of Troy will travel to Oregon State and Oregon this weekend. As Johnson mentioned, the biggest challenge will be keeping team morale up despite outside factors.
A truly selfless player, Samantha Johnson is more concerned about helping build the dream team for the future rather than focusing on personal goals. As USC's roster boasts mainly freshmen, Johnson has stepped in to assist the younger players in becoming accustomed to collegiate play.
"I don't have many personal goals set for myself for this season," Johnson said. "I am working with the freshmen in making sure they have a good experience because I only have so many games left and I want to leave them with a nice program to come back to and build off of."
The Women of Troy will travel to Oregon State and Oregon this weekend. As Johnson mentioned, the biggest challenge will be keeping team morale up despite outside factors.
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