University of San Francisco Athletics

Shanna Haines-Blanchard arrived at USF with an impressive high school record from Claremont High School. She made All-League four consecutive years and was a three time selection for All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). In addition, Haines earned two CIF records in assists. The first women’s soccer player inducted into the USF Athletics Hall of Fame, Haines-Blanchard’s name appears frequently in the USF career and single-season record books, where she ranks high in virtually every meaningful offensive category. By the end of her USF career, Haines-Blanchard, who was named All-Coast in 1987, made 71 consecutive starts and notched a trio of hat tricks. Her 42 goals including 17 unassisted goals and 29 assists for a total of 113 points. As a senior, Haines-Blanchard led USF to one of its best years in the history of women’s soccer with nine victories. One of her most memorable moments at USF was scoring the game-winning goal when USF beat nationally ranked Cal State-Hayward 1-0. While at USF, Haines-Blanchard also played on the softball team in 1986-1987.  

Why Haines-Blanchard Chose USF: "I chose USF largely because of the Women's Soccer coach, Erik Visser. He took a special interest in me and worked really hard to obtain scholarship money for me. Coach John Anton also devoted a lot of his time to train me and find club teams for me during the off-season."

Favorite USF Memories: "USF was a magnificent place to attend college. I have very fond memories of the women's soccer program and the friends I made at USF. I'm sure that my teammates and coaches would all agree that the most memorable game, and thrilling win, was over Cal-State Hayward my freshman year. At the time, Hayward was ranked in the Top-10. Before the game, they were very arrogant and confident that they would defeat us. Being a new program, we were not expected to even compete with this team. However, luck was on our side that day. A goal early in the first half put our team ahead, and it appeared that it would just be a matter of time before Hayward would equalize as they hit shot after shot at our goal. For the rest of the game, we packed our whole team in the back and just played defense. With the help of the men's soccer team beating on trash cans and cheering us on, Pete Simon's "help" in retrieving balls that went out of bounds, strategic coaching, and our team's fighting spirit, we beat Hayward 1-0. After that game, Hayward was no longer ranked in the top ten."
                             
The USF Student-Athlete Experience: "The best thing about being a student-athlete was the friendships I made with my teammates and coaches. There is nothing comparable to the feeling of camaraderie and working together for a common goal. I loved USF for many reasons: the coaches, professors, and students were all very good to me while I attended. I loved the city of San Francisco and I received a great education from USF." 

Did You Know? Haines-Blanchard established the women’s Guinness Book of World Record for juggling in 1987, for a total of three hours and six minutes.

Life After USF: After she graduated from USF, Haines-Blanchard lived in Norway and played soccer in the Norwegian First Division. She then played in Japan's L-League for a year as a professional player. Eventually, she returned to California and worked as a fifth grade elementary school teacher. She moved to Hawaii to work on a second Master's Degree in Kinesiology and coached for the Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club. It is there that she met her husband, Jacob Blanchard, and after three years, they returned to California. Haines-Blanchard has taught first grade for 18 years and has been a teacher for 25 years. She runs a soccer academy called Hurricanes Soccer Academy in Claremont, CA.