Sept. 24, 2010
NASHVILLE – Playing in heavy rain that persisted on and off throughout the night at the VU Soccer Complex, No. 23 South Carolina played host Vanderbilt to a 0-0 draw Friday with Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award nominee Mollie Patton earning her seventh shutout of the season.
Patton registered one save in a match that saw South Carolina hold a 14-9 shot advantage (8-2 shots on goal). With her league-leading seventh shutout of the season, Patton now has 29 solo clean sheets in her career. The senior needs four to tie the all-time SEC record of 33 that is held by Megan Rivera of Auburn (2001-04).
The scoreless draw is the first for South Carolina since the team played then-No. 13 LSU to a 0-0 draw on Oct. 23, 2008 at Stone Stadium. It is the first scoreless draw in the South Carolina-Vanderbilt series as the Gamecocks are unbeaten in the last two matches with the Commodores. The extra time marks the third overtime game of the year for South Carolina. The team previously defeated Furman in overtime and had a draw against Arizona State.
After minimal offense in the first half with the teams combined for five shots, both teams began to breakout in the second half. Both teams had a shot hit the cross bar while South Carolina also saw two shots get saved off the line. The Gamecocks began to take over the possession in the final 25 minutes of the period, beginning with a hold on a streaking Kayla Grimsley that resulted in a Vanderbilt yellow card.
Immediately after, Rae Wilson had a shot to the high corner that saw Bachtel jump for a finger save and corner kick. Off the set piece, Samantha McGowan struck a long one from 20 yards out that was saved by the keeper as well.
South Carolina came close to breaking the deadlock in the 74th when Kayla Grimsley fed the ball to Lolly Holland for a goal, but the junior was called offsides to end the threat. Just four minutes later, Grimsley fed Kira Campbell inside the 18′ for a low strike that was saved off the line by an acrobatic Bachtel.
The Gamecocks out-shot the Commodores 5-0 in the overtime periods but could not get one past frame with Vanderbilt hunkering down. Maria Petroni had a final shot for South Carolina with 40 seconds remaining that was saved to send the game to a draw.
South Carolina travels to Kentucky to take on the Wildcats Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Kentucky dropped a 2-0 decision to Florida earlier Friday night.
