Aug. 27, 2010
By Miquel Jacobs
Media Relations Assistant
| Coach Smith Post-Game |
| South Carolina vs. Louisville Highlights |
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Louisville junior Jennifer Jones converted a penalty kick in the 64th minute to lead the Cardinal to a 1-0 upset over No. 13 South Carolina in the Gamecock Courtyard Classic at Stone Stadium Friday night. Despite holding a 16-9 shot advantage in front of a paid attendance of 1,559 fans, South Carolina couldn’t convert its chances as the team drops its home opener.
Louisville moves to 2-0-0 on the young season while the Gamecocks fall to 2-1-0 after earning two shutout victories on the road last weekend against NCAA Tournament team Boston and Northeastern. Junior Kayla Grimsley led the Gamecock attack with five shots and creative plays on the ball that setup opportunities that did not happen to fall for Carolina.
“It’s a tough way to lose,” South Carolina head coach Shelley Smith said. “You don’t always agree with the refs call but he saw what he saw. The bottom line is we have to score goals and finish our chances. We had a lot of chances today. The positives are that we had a lot of possession and opportunities to score; we just couldn’t capitalize. We left a team with a 0-0 chance to take advantage of that and come back and get a goal.”
Jones was awarded the penalty kick in at 63:26 after it was assessed that a Cardinal player was fouled in the penalty area. South Carolina goalkeeper and Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award candidate Mollie Patton made the correct guess on the direction of the ball but couldn’t get the deflection, ending her season-opening shutout streak at 243:26.
The Gamecocks were afforded many chances in both stanzas of the game with seniors Brooke Jacobs and Brittiny Rhoades serving as the main catalysts to the South Carolina attack throughout the night, along with MAC Hermann Trophy nominee Grimsley. Twice in the opening 15 minutes saw Carolina with looks in front of the net with a Rhoades corner kick in the eighth finding Grimsley’s head for a wide shot and a Jacobs run on the ball in the 13th resulted in a deflection after she beat the keeper.
All three players connected in the 20th minute after Grimsley headed a pass from Rhoades that found Jacobs behind the Cardinal back line, but her shot went wide to end the threat. Jacobs had a strike in the 30th that was tip-saved by Louisville goalkeeper Taylor Vancil at the top of the net to keep the score deadlocked going into the half.
In the second 45 minutes, Louisville attempted to strike first when Emily Cardell fired a rocket inside the ’18 that needed an athletic diving saving by Patton. South Carolina then went back on the attack in the 57th with multiple shots on goal with Grimsley and Danielle Au each getting looks on the ball inside the ’18.
The Gamecock fans in attendance thought they saw a goal in the 63rd after watching Grimsley dance around four defenders before delivering a perfect cross to Au in front of the goal. Au’s initial shot was saved by Vancil, and the rebound deflected straight to junior Kira Campbell whose shot seemed to go in the goal but in actuality was wide and was stuck in the side netting.
Less than 60 seconds later, the Cardinal were able to draw the foul in the box that led to the decisive penalty kick. South Carolina thought it was awarded its own PK in the 74th minute when Grimsley was fouled by the ’18 box, but the foul was awarded just outside the penalty area and Carolina was not able to get a shot off the free kick.
“Credit goes to Louisville,” Smith said. “They hung in, they’re a good team, and I was impressed with how well we did to keep the ball and get the chances we did. I’m happy with the effort and how well we played. It’s that final pass in the net we’re missing.”
South Carolina returns to the pitch Sunday afternoon when the team plays Ohio at 2:30 p.m. The Bobcats dropped a 1-0 game to Bucknell in the opening match of the tournament Friday.
