The Daily Gamecock

Women's soccer look to rebound against LSU, Alabama

After dropping two home games last week and falling in the top-25 polls to No. 24, the Gamecocks look to rebound this weekend as they take on Alabama and LSU.

South Carolina lost to fellow conference foes Missouri and No. 22 Georgia last week, dropping its record to 8-3-0 with a 1-2 SEC record. Head coach Shelley Smith touched on some of the things the Gamecocks need to improve on in practice this week before they deepen into their SEC schedule.

“We had to work on our aggressiveness in the attacking third, overall our competitiveness and playing to compete and win,” she said. “They stepped up and worked extremely hard, and if they train like they did [Tuesday] morning, we’re going to win many more games this fall.”

Smith also added that practices gain higher intensity during a losing streak.

“Sometimes it takes losses to realize what your weaknesses are and what you need to work on,” she said. “It can be a good thing, and we can turn it around from losses instead of making it another loss. I think that’s where this team’s at, and I think we’re ready to go and compete on Friday.”

Senior goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo took last week’s 1-0 loss to Georgia especially hard and is looking to bounce back this upcoming weekend.

“It was a tough one to swallow — we’re a better team than that,” she said. “It sucks I let in such a bad goal, which lost the game for us. We have to regroup as a team and come back to be ready for this weekend coming up.”

The Gamecocks were undefeated at home last year, but since then have dropped three of their first seven home games on the season.

“It’s been our goal to win at home, so I think that’s something we have to look at and fix because [a home loss] should never happen,” D’Angelo said.

South Carolina travels to Alabama (7-3-1) on Friday, and then returns home for its game against LSU (4-6-2) on Sunday. Smith mentioned that having two games in a weekend is never easy, but it’s something you have to get used to.

“It’s difficult, Sunday games are not great,” she said. “In the SEC we know that, we as coaches try to spread out games as best we can. That’s why there are games where you see some weekends where you have one game. No one likes the Sunday games, but you have to rely on your depth and your fitness you came in the preseason with and just dig down to see who wants it more. You never actually get used to the Sunday games, but you know what to expect.”

This season, South Carolina has received some exceptional play from freshman midfielder Savannah McCaskill, who is tied for the team lead in assists with three, and has added a goal to her resume as well. She is probably due to tally up more goals, as she also leads the team in shots on goal with 11.

“I think she’s a tremendous player. She’s a freshman that’s come into a tough environment, and we’ve put a lot on her to play right away for us, and she’s done very well,” Smith said. “She’s shown the ability she has, and she’s just a good overall soccer player. We’ve needed her in the attack, and she’s done well to set up plays.”

Sophomore forward Sophie Groff and junior forward Raina Johnson have also paced the Gamecock offense with four and three goals, respectively.

After returning home from Alabama, South Carolina takes on LSU this Sunday at 1 p.m.


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