No. 15 South Carolina women's soccer ended its 39th program meeting with the Florida Gators with a 0-0 tie at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday afternoon.
South Carolina started the game with verve, as sophomore forward Katie Shea Collins broke through after only three minutes to force a close-range save from Florida's sophomore goalkeeper Paloma Peña. Five minutes later, junior midfielder Maggie Taitano tried her luck from distance to catch Peña off guard, and Peña was again up to the task.
South Carolina continued to pressure the Gators, but Florida relied on its defense and Peña, who made two more saves on Collins, to keep South Carolina off the scoresheet.
The second half moved at a slower pace than the first, with South Carolina only getting three shots in the half compared to the nine it had in the first.
Those two things, in addition to the structured defending and two more saves for Peña against Collins, meant that when the final whistle blew, the game was tied.
Tactics board
South Carolina lined up in its standard 4-4-2 diamond formation, and to combat this, Florida defended in a deep and conservative 5-2-2-1.
Since the midfield group of four in Florida's defense was very narrow, and the wing backs in the Florida back five did not step out too high on their own to apply pressure, there were opportunities for South Carolina.
The outside midfielders on each side of the diamond in Taitano and senior midfielder Kinley Brown, and the full backs, senior defender Micah Bryant and junior defender Amanda Patrick, had space to put in crosses and long balls over the top of the Gator defense.
As the game progressed, Florida's midfield four adjusted to the South Carolina midfielders. The Gators shifted as a group to help cover Gamecock fullbacks and outside midfielders, with Gator midfielders closing the gaps to Gamecock players.
South Carolina countered this by playing from side to side when Florida's narrow midfield shifted and through the middle of Florida's structure when the midfielders spread out and were less connected.
The offensive adjustments to keep the Gators under pressure resulted in 12 total shots for the Gamecocks.
As the Gator defense moved forward to pressure the Gamecock back line, the Gamecocks was successful in finding forwards such as Collins with timed runs in behind the defensive line that left her one-on-one with Peña on several occasions.
Unstoppable force Vs. immovable object
After scoring a hat-trick in South Carolina's home SEC matchup against Ole Miss on Thursday, Collins came into this matchup with the hot boot.
Peña was up to the challenge of defending against Collins. Five of Collin's six shots were on target, and Peña saved all of them to maintain a Florida shutout.
Gators lacking bite
It was a quiet day for senior goalkeeper Christina Tsaousis, as Florida spent long periods of time defending its goal deep, and sparingly had chances to get out and cause danger for the Gamecocks. Florida only managed to get four shots in the game and took zero corner kicks as well.
None of Florida's four total shots were on target, which meant no saves were required from Tsaousis.
What's next?
South Carolina's SEC road trip comes to a close in Norman, Oklahoma, as the team plays Oklahoma on Sept. 26. The game will start at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.