Oct. 2, 2005
Knoxville, Tenn. – Despite a late goal from junior forward Jessi Swaim, the South Carolina women’s soccer team was defeated 2-1 by the 20th ranked Tennessee Lady Vols on Sunday afternoon in SEC action. Tennessee is now 6-4-1 and 4-0 in the SEC while the loss drops Carolina to 5-6 and 1-3 in the conference.
“I think we played much better today and competed,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “It wasn’t a pretty game to watch. A lot of balls in the air, set pieces, we just had to battle and try to get people to the ball. We did at times and put ourselves in position to tie and win the game with good chances on the offensive end.”
Tennessee controlled play in the first half and went ahead of the Gamecocks 1-0 in the ninth minute of play. Off a long throw-in by Sarah Van Sickle, UT forward Kylee Rossi was able to put a shot in from inside the six yard box giving the Lady Vols a one-goal edge. Tennessee finished the first half with an 8-0 shot advantage.
After adjusting to the play of the match, Carolina came out more determined and with more chances. Jackie Welch had a direct kick from just outside the “18” go wide and Darcel Mollon almost scored off a pass from Felicia Schroeder with her shot just going wide right of the goal.
“We had to change our play a little bit,” said Smith. “We put them under a little more pressure and did a better job to run off the ball and run into spaces. We weren’t broken down in the run of play it was just a matter of weathering an onslaught of balls in the “18”, whether it was a corner, set piece, throw-in, they are all the same. That’s a lot of defending we had to do. I think we did a better job defending that first ball, getting the second and trying to complete a pass and play into more dangerous areas.”
The Lady Vols would score the crucial second goal at 85:38 when Hayley Prendergast secured a dribble pass from Jackie Acevedo and was able to knock a shot in from 10 yards out.
The goal would prove to be important as Carolina stormed back to score and cut the deficit back to one goal. A long serve from freshman defender Kim Boulos found its way inside the six with Swaim knocking a shot past Tennessee goalkeeper Vanessa Phillips-Bosshart for her third goal of the year. The assist for Boulos was her first of the season.
Tennessee would end the match with a 14-4 edge in shots including 6-4 in the second half. USC goalkeeper Lindsay Thorstenson had two saves and played all 90 minutes in between the posts.
South Carolina returns home for two more conference contests next weekend. The Gamecocks host Vanderbilt on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. with another SEC match on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. vs. Kentucky. Live audio and live gametracker stats will be available at uscsports.com.
