Gamecocks draw Alabama Friday, defeat LSU Sunday
After losing consecutive SEC matches for the first time since 2012, the No. 24 ranked South Carolina women’s soccer team (9-3-1, 2-2-1) bounced back over the weekend with a 1-1 draw on the road against Alabama (7-3-2, 2-1-1) Friday night and a 1-0 victory at home against LSU (5-7-2, 1-3-1) on Sunday.
“Anytime you drop one or two [games] at home, you start to make sure that every point is crucial,” head coach Shelley Smith said. “To go on the road like we did and battle and play an overtime match and come back here to get the win, it’s huge. It’s what we needed to do this weekend.” Thanks to two strong defensive performances in addition to stellar play from a pair of underclassmen, South Carolina was able to earn four points over the weekend.
The Gamecocks led, and scored in, a game for the first time since September 21 when freshman forward Savannah McCaskill’s header put South Carolina ahead 1-0 against Alabama in the first half.
The goal was McCaskill’s second of the season.
However, Alabama evened the game with a goal in the 58th minute, marking just the second time all season that senior goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo allowed a second-half goal.
The two teams went to overtime, and it appeared as if South Carolina had won when McCaskill fired a shot into the net, but the score was waved off due to an offsides call.
South Carolina leads the SEC in offsides violations per game with 3.31.
Smith was not pleased with the call.
“What we saw at the time, and when you watch video, is that she wasn’t offsides, and it’s unfortunate,” Smith said.
With just one day of rest, the Gamecocks returned to action against LSU at Stone Stadium, where they extended their winning streak against the Tigers to six games.
While South Carolina had a plethora of chances on offense in the first half, the game remained scoreless at halftime.
It looked as if the two teams were on their way to overtime as neither squad had many opportunities for much of the second half, but sophomore forward Daija Griffin changed that in the 75th minute with a goal off of a corner kick by sophomore midfielder Chelsea Drennan.
Drennan sent the ball into the box, and a battle for the ball ensued but Griffin was able to put a foot on it, and her kick got past LSU goalkeeper Lily Alfeld.
According to Griffin, she was just at the right place at the right time.
“Chelsea crossed the ball in and then the ball was just in the 18 and it was just bobbling around and I got really close to it and kicked it in,” Griffin said.
South Carolina outshot LSU 16-4, and the Gamecocks were able to control the possession for most of the game, making life a little bit easier for the South Carolina defense as D’Angelo recorded her eighth clean sheet of the season.