Personal ties run deep between USF's fifth-year head coach Jim Millinder and his team. Many of his players did not just start playing for him when they arrived on the Hilltop, but have been groomed under his guidance since their formative years. Junior defender Allison Arriola is a case in point as one of Millinder's youth gems plucked out of the club circuit to come wear the Green and Gold.
While Arriola's position does not lend itself to gaudy statistics, she has been no less vital to a defensive backfield tasked with maintaining the precedent set by last year's historic defensive unit that either matched or established program-bests in shutouts (10) and goals against average (0.