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No. 25 Gamecocks Take Down 13th Ranked Auburn 3-2
Women's Soccer  . 

No. 25 Gamecocks Take Down 13th Ranked Auburn 3-2

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The 25th ranked South Carolina women’s soccer team took down 13th ranked Auburn 3-2 Friday night, October 1, in front the largest home crowd of the season at Stone Stadium. The win improves the Gamecocks to 9-2 on the season and 4-0 in SEC play.
 
“We were organized and turned them over well,” head coach Shelley Smith said. “When we did, we were more dangerous than we had been coming into this game. We executed our set pieces pretty well. We had some good decision making on the ball, especially in the first half, that broke apart the defense.”
 
It didn’t take long for those good decisions to come into play as the Gamecocks scored in the fourth minute. Off a corner kick, Lauren Chang’s ball nearly found its way into the net, but the Auburn goalkeeper punched it out. The ball bounced off the ground and right to Jyllissa Harris who was there to flick the rebound home for her fourth goal of the season.
 
It was deja vu all over again in the 20th minute for the Tigers. Ryan Gareis played a ball into the box from the left side, the ball was deflected off an Auburn defender and straight to Catherine Barry. She gathering the ball quickly and put a shot to the far right post for her third goal of the season.
 
Already leading 2-0 to start the second half, the Gamecocks wasted no time extending their lead scoring 1:13 into the half. Chang sent a through ball into the box where Gareis made a run to beat her defender, before slipping the ball inside the left post, netted her first goal of the season. The assist was Chang’s seventh of the season and her third career multi-assist match.
 
Auburn would add goals in the 55th minute on a loose ball in front of the net and then added another in the 85th minute.
 
The match was part of the university’s Mental Health Awareness week with resources available for those in attendance. The atmosphere was noticeable, as the crowd of 2,004 was the largest regular season match in almost two years.
 
“It was awesome,” midfielder Lauren Chang said of the crowd atmosphere. “It was so great to have all the kids out, people here for mental health awareness wearing green. The fans, they’re the backbone of everything we do. They give us the home field advantage. The fans give us that energy every time they come to the stadium.”
 
The Gamecocks head back out on the road as they travel to Ole Miss Thursday, October 7 for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff.
 

 

 


For the latest on women’s soccer, visit GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team’s social media accounts on Twitter @GamecockWSoccer, Facebook /GamecockWSoccer, and Instagram @GamecockWSoccer.
 
 

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