Team now readies for NCAA tournament opener at home Friday
The first 12 minutes of Friday’s SEC Tournament semifinal couldn’t have gone much worse for the South Carolina women’s soccer team. With Texas A&M staked to a two goal advantage, it would have been very easy for the Gamecocks to begin mentally packing their bags for the trip home.
But Raina Johnson’s team-leading ninth goal of the season cut the deficit in half in the 25th minute, putting South Carolina right back in the game. From there, a physical stalemate ensued. The second-seeded Aggies’ persistent attack kept the Gamecocks off the ball, and Texas A&M ousted South Carolina 2-1.
“I think they caught us in that first few minutes,” head coach Shelley Smith said. “We didn’t do a good job to drop when we needed to and keep them in front of us. They made us pay for some things that we are better than.”
The Aggies wasted no time putting the pressure on with a counter-attack in the fifth minute. After Sabrina D’Angelo made a diving, fingertip save on the initial chance, Aggies striker Liz Keester was able to net the rebound to give Texas A&M the early lead.
Keester netted her second goal of the match in the 12th minute after receiving a pass in the middle of the box from eight yards out.
“After you score one, those next five minutes are crucial and unfortunately we let them get another one right after that,” redshirt junior defender Taylor Leach said of the two early goals.
Once the Gamecocks pulled within one, they pushed relentlessly for the equalizer that never came. Meanwhile, Texas A&M pushed equally as hard to restore its two-goal lead. The teams’ combined efforts led to added physicality in a match that produced 24 combined fouls.
“We never give up on each other and you could see that even on the field,” Leach said. “It’s hard to play the rest of the game knowing you’re down two especially with the caliber of a Texas A&M team, but we just never gave up.”
South Carolina was outshot 16-9 by the Aggies in the match, which included an 8-3 disadvantage in shots on goal.
The Gamecocks, whose offensive success has been fueled by set pieces, were only able to line up four corner kicks for the game. Johnson attributed the lack of set pieces to the Texas A&M defense.
“I think it was just that A&M is a really good team and they defended us really well,” the sophomore midfielder said. “I think they knew that those [set pieces] are our strengths, so I know that they did their best to try and stop us from getting as many of those as we usually get.”
Texas A&M went on to defeat Florida 2-1 on Sunday after trailing by a goal at halftime to capture its first SEC Tournament title.
South Carolina will open NCAA Tournament play at 7 p.m. Friday at Stone Stadium in the first round against Furman. The Gamecocks are the No. 3 seed, marking just the second time in program history that the team has earned a national seed. Johnson noted the team couldn’t let the difficult SEC Tournament loss linger.
“It’s time to move forward,” Johnson said. “We just need to get better and learn from it.”