No. 9 Gamecocks Ready for Senior Night vs. Mississippi State
#9 Women’s Soccer vs. Florida
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The ninth-ranked University of South Carolina women’s soccer team (5-1-0, 5-1-0 SEC) hosts Mississippi State (2-1-3, 2-1-3 SEC) for its annual Senior Night on Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. The match will be aired on SEC Network + from Stone Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT – FLORIDA
Then-No. 11 South Carolina women’s soccer (5-1-0, 5-1-0 SEC) dominated Florida (1-3-1, 1-3-1 SEC) 4-2 on Oct. 25 at Stone Stadium to give head coach Shelley Smith her 300th career win, 259 coming as the head coach of South Carolina.
“[Wins] are not something that I’ve ever kept track of, and wasn’t really thinking about coming into today’s match,” Smith said. “Obviously it is an amazing accomplishment, but I don’t go into a game or a season ever thinking about things like that. It is one game at a time and that is our mentality and that is what our team’s mentality is. When I get the chance to step back a little bit, it will be nice to realize the accomplishment. I’m sure it will sink in eventually.”
The win is the fifth straight for the Gamecocks and keeps Carolina on the top of the SEC standings with 15 total points. The win made Shelley Smith the 27th head coach at the NCAA Division I level to win 300 matches in a career.
“[Winning] was obviously something we were trying to do for Shelley,” junior defender Sutton Jones said. “We love her, and she loves us. She’s done so well with this program and going into today it was something we really wanted to do for her. It was just super special. She is so humble and even told us after the match that she doesn’t focus on those kinds of things.”
JONES NAMED SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
South Carolina women’s soccer junior Sutton Jones was honored as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week, the first of the junior’s career, the conference office announced on Oct. 26. The honor is the fourth straight week the Gamecocks have earned a weekly honor from the SEC.
“Sutton had another great game playing almost every minute in the back for us,” South Carolina head coach Shelley Smith said. “She was a huge difference on the offensive end as well with her two goals. It is a well-deserved honor this week being recognized by truly making an impact on both ends of the field.”
Jones netted a pair of goals for the No. 11 Gamecocks against rival Florida, helping Carolina earn its fifth-straight SEC win. The Fort Mill, S.C., native, scored the first and last goal of the Gamecocks 4-2 dominant win over Florida at Stone Stadium. The brace is the first multi-goal performance by a Carolina defender since Taylor Leach in 2014. Jones doubled her carer goal total with her two goals against Florida, helping the Gamecocks defeat the Gators for the fifth-straight time at Stone Stadium dating back to 2012.
SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
In just his second season at the helm of the Mississippi State program James Armstrong has led the Bulldogs into a formittable SEC program. The Bulldogs are coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019 and followed that up with an undefeated 2-0-2 start before falling to Texas A&M on the road last week. The Bulldogs have matched up with two ranked opponents this season, tying with then-No. 15 Alabama and falling to then-No. 9 Texas A&M 3-0. Onyi Echegini and Monigo Kamley are both players who have scored multiple times this season for Mississippi State. Echegini has arguably been the most dangerous, averaging three shots per match, the fourth most in the SEC this season. In goal it has been freshman Maddy Anderson for most of the season, playing all but 21 minutes between the pipes. Anderson has been tough in goal, making 29 saves this season, the fifth-most in the SEC this season. The Bulldogs have had five different starting lineups through their first five matches, but stuck with their latest lineup in their past two matches.
JONES NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
South Carolina women’s soccer junior defender Sutton Jones was named the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week for her performance in the Gamecocks’ 4-2 win against Florida.
This is the second-straight week the Gamecocks have earned the United Soccer Coaches Player of the Week and join TCU as the only teams to have multiple National Players of the Week this season. Jones is only the second defender to earn the National Player of the Week honor this season, joining TCU’s Brandi Peterson.
Jones was also honored by College Soccer News and TopDrawerSoccer on their national Teams of the Week.
LEAVING IT BETTER THAN THEY FOUND IT
On Friday night the Gamecocks will honor nine current Gamecocks and two former Gamecocks that were forced to medically retire. The 2020 senior class has been a part of two SEC Championships (2017, 2019) and has won 91 percent of its matches at Stone Stadium, the second-best mark in program history (only behind the 2019 senior class at 92.2 percent). They have won 57 matches and 27 SEC matches, easily inside the top five among South Carolina senior classes. The class has reached the NCAA Tournament in every season and has won eight NCAA Tournament matches, which includes a trip to the program’s first College Cup in 2017.
THE OFFENSIVE GAMECOCKS
As a team the Gamecocks are either the outright SEC leaders or tied in total goals (13), total points (37), assists per match (1.83) and total assists (11) this season. The Gamecocks are ranked second in the SEC in points per match (6.17) and scoring offense (2.17).
The Gamecocks points per match mark of 6.17 is just behind the program record of 6.33 that the team set in 2016 when the team scoring a total of 152 points in 24 matches. Individually, Catherine Barry, Samantha Chang and Rylee Forster are all inside the SEC top 10 in regards to total points and points per match.
RIGHTFULLY RANKED
For the third consecutive week the Gamecocks improved their ranking in the United Soccer Coaches top 15 poll. Carolina moved up from No. 11 to No. 9 after taking down Florida. Despite the Gamecocks being on top of the SEC regular season standings through six of the eight 2020 regular season matches Carolina still sits behind No. 7 Arkansas and No. 8 Texas A&M in the rankings. For the 2020 season the United Soccer Coaches poll has been reduced to just 15 teams, with no additional ‘teams receiving votes’.
‘MATTER’ IS THE MINIMUM PATCH
As of July 30, 2020, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved rules to allow student-athletes in all sports to wear patches on their uniforms for commemorative and memorial purposes, as well as to support social justice issues. Student-athletes of the South Carolina women’s soccer program chose to wear patches that read “Matter is the Minimum” on their right sleeve.
The Gamecocks chose to wear these patches because they want to use their platform as student-athletes to take a stand against systemic racism and social injustice. The team does not tolerate any form of racism and injustice and wants to do its part to make a change. Although these patches are small, they stand for a movement that is bigger than any game.
UP NEXT
Carolina will have a full week to recover for their match against Tennessee on Fri., Nov. 6. The Gamecocks will travel to Knoxville for the matchup schedule for a 6 p.m. kick on SEC Network +. Last season the Gamecocks and Volunteers tied at Stone Stadium, 1-1.
QUICK NOTES
– The last time the Gamecocks took on the Bulldogs was back in 2018, Lauren Chang scored a penalty kick in the 11th minute in the 2-1 overtime loss in Starkville
– The Gamecocks have had four different starting lineups this season with most changes in the lineup coming at goalkeeper or defender
– The 2020 season for the Gamecocks is the 25th season in program history with head coach Shelley Smith entering her 20th season as the leader of the Garnet and Black
– Shelley Smith won her 300th match against Florida on Oct. 25, making her the 27th D1 women’s soccer coach to win 300 matches
