Q & A with Kristin Olsen
The USC Trojans and goalkeeper Kristin Olsen are riding a shut out streak into the semi-final of the NCAA 2007 Women’s College Cup semi-final against UCLA. They haven’t conceded a single goal in the NCAA tournament.
Fair Game caught up with Olsen, who coach Ali Khosroshahin calls an exceptional athlete and the USC player with the best foot skills, before Wednesday’s practice for a little Q&A.
Tell me about making the switch from field player to goalie. I know that even in high school you were playing both and were, in fact, named offensive MVP of your high school team your junior year.
I’ve played on the field for most of my soccer career. My club coach wound up putting me in the goal when I was about 15. I’ve been in the goal since then but I’ve always still kept up my field skills. In high school, they thought that I would be more valuable on the field so I ended up playing on the field most of the time. I guess it ended up working and I got MVP. I’ve played a little bit of forward with my club team in the last few years, but I’m mostly sticking to goalie now.
Do you think of yourself as a goalie or a field player?
Definitely a goalie. If you had asked me that three years ago, I probably would have said I don’t know. I don’t think I could have chosen back then because I loved the goal and I loved the field at the same time. I couldn’t really choose. As I’ve taken more responsibility as a ‘keeper, I’ve definitely started to think of myself as more of a goalie.
Was it a difficult decision to make?
When I was younger, it was really, really difficult. I remember riding home in the car with my mom and I cried because I didn’t want to switch. Looking back on it, I’m so glad that my coach saw my potential and kind of just stuck me in there.
Last year as a freshman, you were the back up ‘keeper and did not see a lot of action. This year you have started every game. Talk about the different roles.
Last year was a lot more watching and a lot more learning. Vernoica Simonton was the other goalie and she was really good and she played a big role on the team. Coming in as a sophomore, not having played much my freshman season, I was kind of nervous. I didn’t know how our defense would really accept me and how I’d work with them, but we’ve worked on it in practice and we’ve developed pretty good chemistry. It’s definitely different, but I learned a lot from last year and I think that helped me.
What would you say your strengths are as a ‘keeper?
I feel like I’m a good organizer. I like to keep my box organized. I think that’s really important because it limits even having shots on goal. I’m pretty decent in the air. My height (6 feet) helps with that. Playing on the field has helped me with my feet too.
Tell me a little bit about your 2007 season. I know you had 11 shut outs and you are the only team that hasn’t given up a goal in the tournament.
It’s definitely an honor and it shows how much our defense really has been working. It’s definitely not just me. It includes our whole team working together. I feel like we’ve worked a lot during practice and we’ve worked really hard to work out the kinks and work on shifting and finding outlets and all that combined. We have really good team chemistry back there. We’ve suffered injuries and people from the bench have stepped up and taken on those roles. I think we’ve worked really well with adverse conditions and that’s showing in our results. Hopefully, we can keep that zero goals against throughout the rest of the tournament.
You guys had a 2-0 loss to UCLA in the regular season. Do you think that is a positive or negative for you going into the semi on Friday?
I’m not too worried about actually playing UCLA. I know whatever team we come up against, it’s going to be a hard game. It’s not about a cross-town rivalry anymore, it’s about who wants to win a national championship more. They know how we play. We know how they play. It’s going to be a really tough match. I think it will be tough, but I don’t think we’re too worried about it.
How do you match up against them?
They have a lot of really good, talented players. Their offense is very strong. On our side I feel like maybe we have a really strong defense. I feel like we’re pretty balanced as far as talent and potential.
Did you learn anything from that loss that you think might help you on Friday?
I don’t know. I think we just have to go into it knowing that we have nothing to lose. They’ve obviously beaten us before, so the pressure is on them. We really have nothing to lose and we’ve just got to go out there and play our best and hope for the best.
At the beginning of the season, did you expect this team to make it to the College Cup?
When Ali came in, he asked us our goals and what we wanted to do and of course we were all like “we want to win a National Championship.” He told us we had to break it down, that we couldn’t just start from there. So we decided we wanted to win the Pac-10. We wanted to go to the Final Four and now we want to win the National Championship. Our goal was definitely to get here. Now to think that we are actually here is amazing. Making it in Ali’s first year after restructuring the team and how we play was a big change, so it is pretty amazing. I’m just proud we’re here right now. Hopefully, we can continue.
Is it enough just to be there or as a team are you hungry for more?
We’re definitely hungry for more. We want to go all the way.
Anything else you think soccer fans should know about you or this team?
Our coach always says that we are sleeping giants, so watch out.
Comments
USC Woman's Soccer
Charles
Wednesday December 12 2007 09:38:27 pm
Kristin, you rock!
#3 fan
Wednesday December 12 2007 05:31:58 am
no kidding
fan
Saturday December 08 2007 12:46:07 am