With the regular season recently coming to a close, the No. 22 South Carolina women's soccer team will now turn their attention to the SEC Tournament. The Gamecocks finished their season with a 4-2-4 record in the conference, which earned them the seventh seed in the tournament.
Beginning on Nov. 2, 12 SEC programs will travel down to Pensacola, Florida to compete in the weeklong postseason tournament. The success of a team's performance in their respective conference can help improve its seeding, or determine its selection, for the NCAA Tournament that’ll begin on Nov. 14.
In the first round of the SEC Tournament, South Carolina drew a matchup against the tenth-seed Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Gamecocks defeated the Tide 2-1 in Tuscaloosa during each teams’ SEC opener on Sept. 11. Alabama will be entering the first round of the SEC Tournament in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
Head coach Shelley Smith said that it will be beneficial for the team to have a week's worth of rest before its matchup versus Alabama on Nov. 2.
“Unfortunately, we had a little spell here where we had some knocks and injuries, and that disrupted our play the last couple weeks,” Smith said. “It’s nice to have a week off before play where we’ll be a bit more healthy.”
Similarly to the Crimson Tide, South Carolina will be entering the SEC Tournament on a skid of their own, having not won a game since their 5-1 victory over the Texas Longhorns on Oct. 9.
The winner of this first round matchup goes on to play the Vanderbilt Commodores in the quarterfinals. South Carolina dropped their game against Vanderbilt 1-0 in its regular season finale on Oct. 26.
Smith said that despite the defeat, South Carolina showed a lot of promise against No. 10 Vanderbilt.
“For a team that had a lot of possession and (is) very dangerous, we gave them very few looks,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, one of them went in, and that's the difference between winning and losing.”
Last season, South Carolina fell short in the SEC Tournament Championship Game after the Texas Longhorns defeated them 1-0. South Carolina's last SEC Tournament victory dates back to 2022.
Senior defender Gracie Falla, who was a freshman on the 2022 team, said that the team has high standards and expectations for this year's postseason.
“(Our goal is) to win championships. I think that’s pretty straightforward,” Falla said. “That’s been our goal ever since I’ve been here ... I think we have a really good chance this year.”
During her 24-year career with the Gamecocks, Smith has won the tournament six times. Her 2025 squad has remained nationally ranked all season, peaking as the No. 8 team in the country midway through October.
Entering the postseason, the SEC will bring five ranked teams to the conference tournament. Smith said she loves the competition that the Southeastern Conference provides year in and year out.
“We appreciate when teams in our conference put themselves in a great position,” Smith said. “It makes that more exciting for our conference.”
South Carolina’s defense has been one of the team's strengths over the course of the season. Entering the tournament, the Gamecocks’ 0.61 goals against average ranks third in the SEC.
Senior goalkeeper Christina Tsaousis says the South Carolina defense will remain true to its defensive expectations
“We have a lot of high standards in our defense here,” Tsaousis said. “We know that the coaches expect a lot out of us, and we know that we just have to go out and do our job every single game.”
After concluding the season with a 10-3-5 record, South Carolina displayed that it they are tough group to beat outright as their three regular season losses are tied for the second fewest in the SEC. On the contrary, the Gamecocks have also struggled to beat their opponents outright with a 2-2-4 record in the final eight games of their season.
What’s Next?
The South Carolina women’s soccer team will travel to Pensacola, Florida to face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, and will be broadcast on SEC Network.