Gamecocks Advance to Round of 32 with 3-1 Win over UNCG
Columbia, S.C. – No. 18 South Carolina women’s soccer (14-5-1, 6-3-1 SEC) defeated UNC Greensboro (15-5-1, 7-2-0 SoCon) 3-1 in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Stone Stadium on Friday night.
Lauren Chang scored the gamewinner in the second half to help the Gamecocks advance to the NCAA round of 32 for the third-straight season. The gamewinner is the third of the season for Chang and her eighth overall.
“At the start of the game, it was slim in shot production and we had the ball a lot, but we weren’t dangerous enough,” South Carolina head coach Shelley Smith said. “We talked about it all year. So, they came out in the second half and played much better, and we talked about how we need to do that for 90 minutes. We have to go at teams and put it together. So we can’t wait, and they did a great job in coming back and tying the game. I thought we responded well in the second half. We were definitely more aggressive.”
Junior Elexa Bahr netted the opening goal for South Carolina, her third of the season, at 31:47. Streaking on the right side of the box, Bahr was able to beat her defender and send a shot off her left foot that eventually found the bottom left corner of the goal.
UNC Greensboro answered just a few minutes later at 39:39. Heida Vidarsdottir’s goal is just the second the Gamecocks have given up in the first half all season.
In the second half, South Carolina came out on a mission to get the lead back. Freshman Jyllissa Harris sent a perfectly placed pass into the box where Chang found the ball with her head, sending it to the right side of the box.
“From my perspective, I saw Jyllissa (Harris) get the ball and the back line was stepping out, but they weren’t really man-marking or anything,” Chang said. “They weren’t talking or communicating, so I thought I would take advantage of that and try to get my head on it and, luckily, it was a perfect ball. I just had to stand there, basically.”
“I saw Luciana (Zullo) was kind of running forward, and I saw the opportunity to get around her and get the ball,” Harris said. “When I got the ball, I looked up and saw (Lauren) Chang wide open on the far post so I just tried to hit it over in that direction and she got her head on it.”
South Carolina added an insurance goal at 60:59 when Harris found the back of the net for the fourth time this season after receiving a pass from senior Simone Wark that she headed into the back of the net. Harris’ three points makes her one of just 11 in South Carolina women’s soccer history to score and assist on a goal in the same match in the NCAA Tournament.
Penn State will be South Carolina’s next opponent after the Nittany Lions defeated Bowling Green in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The match will be played on Fri., Nov. 16, with the time and location to be determined.
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