After notching a 2-0 victory over No. 16 Florida to send South Carolina to the College Cup for the first time in program history, the Gamecocks will face their toughest challenge yet against Stanford.
No. 1 Stanford (22-1-0) is currently on a 20-match win streak and has the best scoring offense in the nation with 86 goals on the season, averaging 3.74 goals and 25.1 shots per match.
Along with the best offense, Stanford has one of the top defenses in the country. Stanford is third in the nation in goals against average, allowing .304 goals per match and only conceding seven goals all season.
To beat Stanford, South Carolina will have to stop the freshman forward phenom Catarina Macario.
While Macario is just a freshman, she has already racked up a fair share of awards. Macario has been named the Pac-12 Forward of the Year, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, a semi-finalist for the Mac Hermann Trophy and espnW's Soccer Player of the Year. She leads the nation with 47 points, and is tied for fourth in goals with 17 and tied for first with 13 assists. Just in post-season play, she has three goals and three assists.
Along with Macario, Stanford has another great attacker in redshirt junior forward Kyra Carusa, who has racked up 14 goals and five assists this season. Macario and Carusa have been giving opposing defenses trouble all season.
The defense for Stanford relies heavily on the play from junior midfielder Andi Sullivan and sophomore defender Tierna Davidson. Sullivan was named the Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year and Davidson was named Pac-12 Defender of the Year, and both were named semi-finalists for the Hermann Trophy, alongside Macario.
South Carolina is coming into this match without allowing a goal in the NCAA Tournament so far. Much of that has to do with the play of sophomore defender Grace Fisk along with the rest of the backline and the outstanding play of sophomore goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski. Fisk has been named SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and has been named a semi-finalist for the Hermann Trophy. With the help of Fisk, the defense has only allowed nine goals this season, while Krzeczowski has registered 16 shutouts on the season.
A key to this game will be how well defensively South Carolina plays early in the match. In Stanford's last match, the team scored four goals in a matter of 21 minutes.
"We are very good defensively; we have been all year," head coach Shelley Smith said. "And against [Stanford], ... we have to be very disciplined ... We know we have a team that will make it difficult for them to score."
The play from SEC Forward of the Year Savannah McCaskill will be crucial for the Gamecocks' success. Along with Fisk, McCaskill has been named a semi-finalist for the Hermann Trophy. McCaskill is tied with sophomore forward Elexa Bahr for the most goals on the team this season with eight, with five of those goals being game-winners.
Along with her scoring ability, McCaskill has done a tremendous job of getting her teammates involved on the offensive side of the ball, recording nine assists this season and creating holes in defenses that other players can exploit for scoring opportunities.
"We can't get to the next game unless we get past Stanford," McCaskill said. "It's going to be a hard game. It's a battle between two great teams that have earned the right to be there, so we have to be 100 percent focused on Stanford."