The South Carolina women’s soccer team was unable to capitalize on opportunities in the second half of its game against the Texas A&M Aggies, resulting in a 1-0 loss on senior night.
Coming off a loss to the LSU Tigers on Oct. 21, South Carolina looked to bounce back in the team's regular season finale. Leading up to the match against the Aggies, the Gamecocks were undefeated at Stone Stadium in 2018. In 10 home matches at Stone Stadium, South Carolina had allowed only one goal coming into this match.
“We’ve got a young group and they’ve got to learn that they’ve done very well, and they’ve got to step up and forget about the last game," head coach Shelley Smith said.
Texas A&M threatened early with a couple of shots in the first 20 minutes of the first half and outshot the Gamecocks 4-3, but South Carolina kept the Aggies off the board. This continued a trend — the Gamecocks did not allow a goal in the first half of any match this season.
The Gamecocks started the second half aggressively with two dangerous shots in the first 10 minutes that did not find the goal. South Carolina continued to be aggressive as they outshot the Aggies 9-4 in the second half.
Neither team could capitalize on their opportunities throughout regulation, forcing a 10 minute overtime period. Texas A&M pressured South Carolina goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski with two minutes left in overtime, but Krzeczowski managed to keep them from the goal until the end of the first overtime period.
With 17 seconds left, Texas A&M’s Ally Watt shot a header into the goal to give the Aggies the victory.
“I think when we’ve made it to overtime, it’s because we have had a lack of scoring on our end,” Smith said. “I think we’ve put ourselves in good situations. We were all over an opponent again tonight and it just didn’t fall for us.”
This is the first and only loss at Stone Stadium for the Gamecocks in the 2018 regular season and only the second goal allowed at home this season.
“We have to be better in our moments and we have to be better in overtime and at the end of games to make sure we put the ball out of danger in danger situations,” Smith said.
The Gamecocks move to 12-4-1 on the season and will await their seeding in the SEC Tournament, which will be held in Orange Beach, Alabama, from Oct. 28 until Nov. 4.