Gamecocks take 4 wins in a row to postseason play
For the South Carolina equestrian team, there could be no better time to compete in the Southern Equestrian Championships than right now.
USC has been on a roll over the past month and a half, winning four events in a row. Over that stretch, the Gamecocks have outscored their opponents 55-16.
Head coach Boo Major hopes her team can ride the momentum from the recent success to a Southern championship.
“I really like where we are right now,” Major said. “Our team has a lot of confidence and they’re working as a unit. I really think it helps a lot to have a four-game winning streak. I don’t think they’re overconfident and that is a good thing. They are going in to ride the best that they can on that given day.”
The championships will take place this weekend at Bishop, Ga., home of the Georgia Bulldogs’ equestrian team. USC plays Auburn Friday, and if it wins the team will face the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Just over a month ago, the Gamecocks upset then-No. 1 Auburn in Blythewood, S.C. in a meet that jump-started USC’s winning streak. Major said doing it a second time will be tough, but possible.
“We have to ride as well as we did the last time we played them,” Major said. “Auburn is a very good team, but I think our team is quite good as well. The good thing about this is that we are on a level playing field; they don’t have the benefit of their own horses and we don’t have the benefit of ours.”
As for having to face the No. 1 Bulldogs in their backyard, Major says that is just the way it works out. Georgia has not lost at home this season.
“There is a definite advantage to hosting this competition,” Major said. “You could say that it is unfair, but Georgia is the one who got the top seed and they beat us twice and Auburn once. We have the ability to beat them, but it’s a wait-and-see-how-we-are-that-day kind of thing. I would say that if we beat Auburn, we will have a good opportunity and be very competitive against Georgia.”
USC has not fared well at these championships in recent years, but Major is not worried. She is happy with how her team has improved over the season.
“I was a little unhappy with how we started,” Major said. “However, the good thing about this team is that they know they’re good and they aren’t going to get down when they lose. I think they have responded well to what the captains have been preaching to them. Everybody is ready to go, and I really like where we are right now. Even though we have not fared well at this event in the past, I think we have a very good opportunity to do well this year.”
The Southern championships will not affect the National Championships that take place April, 12-14, since the seedings have already been handed out. Carolina’s Hunt Seat team earned a No. 2 seed while the Western team got a No. 5 seed.
However, this weekend’s championships will help prepare the team for nationals as the circumstances will be similar.
“I think it’s a great tool to prepare for the national championship,” Major said. “A lot of what we are going to be asked of in terms of tests and patterns are going to be the same things we’ll see at nationals. We have got a lot of work to do, but we can do it.”