Sept. 9, 2005
Clemson, S.C. – A goal by Jenny Smith at 7:55 in the first half was enough to lift Clemson to a 1-0 victory over the South Carolina women’s soccer team on Friday evening at Riggs Field. South Carolina is now 3-2 on the year with Clemson 3-1-1 on the season. The Carolina Cup continues on Sunday afternoon with the Gamecocks facing Charlotte at 1 p.m.
“It’s not over until the final whistle blows,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “We fought hard and played well. It’s too bad we gave up an early goal on their first shot of the game. That’s unfortunate. We showed heart and urgency to try to get the numbers forward and win the game. We did everything we could but we couldn’t find that final finish. We are proud of the efforts. We improved on our performances and we need to build on this as we go forward this year. There is a long season ahead of us and we will learn from this.”
Clemson went ahead 1-0 on Smith’s goal in the eighth minute. Off the counterattack, Courtney Foster was able to control a misplay by the Carolina defense and passed back to Smith. Smith gained possession of the ball and launched a shot above the “18” and over the head of USC goalkeeper Lindsay Thorstenson for the first goal of the match.
The match would remain that way for the last 82 minutes but not without Carolina coming close on several chances. In the second half, Courtney Cobbs hit the crossbar at 53:49 and Ashley Kirk’s free kick outside the “18” at 72:54 was saved on line by Clemson goalkeeper Ashley Phillips.
A flurry of USC opportunities were created within the last 10 minutes with Jessi Swaim getting two shots on goal. South Carolina finished the match with an 11-10 advantage as well as seven corner kicks to Clemson’s two on the night. Thorstenson made three saves with Phillips finishing with five.
“These are two good teams that both battled hard,” said Smith. “Unfortunately they got a bounce where we didn’t clear a ball and get a shot that goes over our keeper’s head. That’s the way these games go. I think that was a great display of two top teams and it could have gone either way on any given night. It just wasn’t ours today.”
Live gametracker stats for Sunday’s match vs. Charlotte will be available at uscsports.com.
