Women meet 3.5 GPA goal, 9 make 4.0
Of the seven matches for the South Carolina equestrian team, four have been decided by a tiebreaker or by one point.
Carolina has been on the losing end of three of those decisions. The most recent came last Sunday, when USC lost to No. 6 Oklahoma State, 10-9, despite sweeping MVP honors in the Hunt Seat events.
Looking past the final score, coach Boo Major says there were a lot of positives
that came from the match.
"We really learned a lot as a team against Oklahoma State," Major said. "We really didn't make a lot of mistakes, which I was happy about. That is something that we have been preaching about. Unfortunately, it seems to be our mantra to lose by one point this season; however, as a whole we rode much more as a team Sunday. I am disappointed that we lost, but not disappointed in the girls."
The Gamecocks will look to rebound from their tough loss when they take on No. 2 Georgia Saturday. After losing their season opener, the Bulldogs have reeled off six consecutive wins going into this weekend's match in Bishop, Ga.
Georgia is one of the premier equestrian teams in the nation, so Major says the Gamecocks must ride their best to have a chance.
"They are solid all the way around," Major said. "They have always performed consistently at nationals and they have more championships than any other equestrian team. They don't make mistakes. Therefore, for us to win we must have mistake-free rides. We need to ride aggressively and have confidence in ourselves."
USC did receive some good news this week when the team found out it had posted the highest GPA on record last semester.
"At the beginning of the season, our girls set that lofty goal for themselves," Major said. "They set the bar at a 3.5 and I was like, are you sure? They said they could do it, and they did. To achieve a team GPA over 3.5 and have nine girls post a 4.0 is just great. It really speaks well for our academic services, especially Bob Campbell, who does a great job with the girls."
Major will look for another first Saturday, as Georgia has never lost at home.
She said the last meeting against the Bulldogs showed her team can hang around with the best. In that meeting in Blythewood, South Carolina claimed two MVP awards, but eventually lost 11-9. The Western team was the Achilles heel during that contest, and Major hopes to be able to put all the parts together.
"It is going to be a tall order to go in there and get a win; we definitely have our work cut out for us," Major said. "We played them well last time out, so we are capable of getting it done. We have been working on getting our reining team more aggressive. Other than that, our girls have been pretty consistent this year. Our [equitation on the flat] team has grown up quite a bit. We have learned a lot from our girls competing."