In a rematch of last season’s national championship, No. 8 South Carolina was defeated by No. 2 Georgia at One Wood Farm Saturday afternoon in Blythewood, South Carolina, by a score of 13-7. The Gamecocks dropped to 3-6 on the season.
Two Gamecocks received a Most Outstanding Player award after the meet. Sophomore Bailey Walters earned the Most Outstanding Player award in reining with a score of 72. Senior Erin Fry earned her first career M.O.P award with a score of 84 on the flat.
The Gamecocks hosted the Bulldogs for the second meet of the spring portion of their schedule and first SEC spring meet after defeating Tennessee-Martin last weekend.
South Carolina jumped to an early one-point lead in reining as junior Makayla Clegg defeated defeated Kyndall Harper on Skeeto 67.5-66. Georgia tied the meet and took its own one-point lead as Charley Thiel defeated freshman Bridgett White on Wrangler 68.5-68 and Lauren Garmon defeated freshman Madison Thiel on Fiona 69-65.5.
South Carolina then tied the meet back up at two as Walters defeated Graysen Stroud on Boomer 72-70.5. Georgia regained the lead by taking the final reining point as Claudia Spreng defeated senior Sarah Bouchard on Puffin 70-68.5 for a Bulldogs 3-2 lead heading to equitation over fences.
The Bulldogs picked up the first two points in jumping as Addy Cord defeated redshirt senior Samantha Smith on Mango 75-72 and Liza Finsness defeated freshman Lizzie van der Walde on Batman 87-81 to take a 5-2 lead in the meet. The Gamecocks fought back to bring the meet within one point as redshirt sophomore Chloe Schmidt defeated Leylan Gleeson on Lark 77-76 and senior Samantha Kraus defeated Alex Maracic on Indie 83-80. Georgia picked up the last jumping point as Meg O’Mara defeated redshirt junior Sydney Smith on Joe 93-70 to take a 6-4 lead in the meet.
The Bulldogs continued to add to their lead as Madison Anger defeated senior Abigail Pait on Amos 72.5-70.5 for the first point in horsemanship. The Gamecocks cut the lead by one when sophomore Megan Overberg defeated Stroud on Barbie 75-67.5. Georgia then closed out horsemanship by taking the next three points as Bailey Anderson defeated junior Ashley Reichert on Paddy 76.5-75, Rachel Kolb defeated junior Lindsey Slack on Caper 76.5-75.5 and Heather Schmidt defeated junior Bailey Mierzejewski on Jazz 74-73.5.
Georgia took a 10-5 lead into the final event of the meet, equitation on the flat. Georgia added two points to their lead by taking the first two points on the flat when Madison Newman defeated van der Walde on Toby 77-75 and Meg O’Mara defeated redshirt sophomore Chloe Schmidt on Mike 84-79. The Gamecocks took the next two points as Fry defeated Cord on Lark 84-72 and Samantha Smith defeated defeated Finsness on Keaton 83-81. Georgia would close out the meet by picking up the final point on the flat as Gleeson defeated Kraus on Cody 78-75 to win the meet by an overall score of 13-7.
South Carolina looks to bounce back when the Gamecocks host No. 4 Texas A&M for the final home meet of the season Feb. 20 at One Wood Farm at 10 a.m. The Gamecocks will honor their eight seniors before for the meet as a part of Senior Day.