History was made in Chapel Hill, North Carolina Sunday afternoon.
The South Carolina women’s soccer team (14-5-5) is heading to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history after pulling off a 1-0 upset win over No. 2-seed North Carolina on the Tar Heels’ home field.
The Gamecocks outshot North Carolina throughout the match and, in the 23rd minute, midfielder Raina Johnson’s shot got past Tar Heel goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin and slithered into the bottom right corner of the goal to give South Carolina an early lead.
The score was the Gamecocks’ first in over 366 minutes of play, dating back to South Carolina’s 2-1 win against Missouri in the SEC Tournament on Nov. 5.
For the second match in a row, the third-seeded Gamecocks were without All-American goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo because of a wrist injury, while All-SEC defender Taylor Leach also missed the match because of the two yellow cards she received in the team’s contest against Seattle.
With that said, the Gamecock defense held strong and did a stellar job of containing North Carolina’s offensive attack.
South Carolina has now shut out its opponent in three consecutive matches.
The Tar Heels registered just three shots on goal while backup goalkeeper Abbey Crider earned her second straight clean sheet in just her second career start.
Trailing for most of the match, North Carolina became more aggressive on offense as the second half went on.
The Tar Heels had a plethora of corner kicks during the second half and North Carolina’s best scoring chance came in the 90th minute when Joanna Boyles had a shot from point-blank range which Crider corralled for her third save of the day.
South Carolina will face the winner of the match between No. 1 seed Florida State and Central Florida on either Friday or Saturday.