SAN FRANCISCO – The lifetime friendship between Jessica Nakae and Amanda Whittle began when the two girls landed in the same kindergarten class in Torrance, Calif. The bond continued on the pitch and the connection strengthened as the pair played on the same club soccer team as third-graders. Add USF head coach Jim Millinder into the mix as the coach to the youth duo, and what would become a veritable USF women's soccer triumvirate got an early start on the path to success.
Nakae and Whittle play a different style of soccer, but when the pair step on the field together the synergy is palpable for all to see.