Oct. 23, 2005
Baton Rouge, La. – Kimmy Gillespie and Kim Boulos each scored first half goals within a minute of each other and Darcel Mollon added her team-leading fifth goal in the second half as the South Carolina women’s soccer team defeated LSU 3-0 on Sunday afternoon in SEC action. The win snaps South Carolina’s seven-game losing streak and improves the team’s record to 6-11 and 2-8 in the SEC. LSU is now 6-9-2 and 2-7-1 in the conference.
“I think we played with great effort today,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “We are not a team that is going to give up. We have to continue and play hard and prove that we should have more wins than we have this year. Our team was able to take advantage of chances today and take care of the ball in the midfield. If you keep possession of the ball, take advantage of the finishing opportunities, and minimize mistakes in the back, that’s the equation to winning games.”
Gillespie scored her first goal of the year at 25:08 off the assist from Amanda Thurber to give USC a one-goal lead. Carolina midfielder Amanda Thurber was able to break down the LSU defense and and knocked a ball deep to the far post that Gillespie was able to get a foot on for the first goal of the match.
Carolina would then catch a break with Boulos scoring at 26:17, her first goal of her career at USC. Running down wide off the right side, Boulos played a long served from 30 yards out that was played into the goal and into the hands of LSU goalkeeper Jackie Moseley. Moseley, however, caught the ball behind the line inside the goal resulting in a score of Boulos and giving the Gamecocks a two-goal edge.
Carolina closed out the scoring in the match in the second half with Mollon putting in her second goal of the week at 65:51. Mollon scored the goal unassisted as she broke past the LSU defense and slotted the ball to the right and past Moseley as Carolina went ahead 3-0.
USC goalkeeper Laura Armstrong played all 90 minutes and earned the shutout in goal for USC. Armstrong finished with two saves on the afternoon. USC was in control of much of the match with a 16-7 edge in shots including nine shots on goal. LSU goalkeeper Jackie Moseley made six saves in between the posts for the Tigers.
South Carolina is now 6-0 on the year when scoring two or more goals in a match. The Gamecocks conclude the 2005 season on Friday, Oct. 29 with a road match at nationally ranked Florida. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with the match televised live on FSN Florida.
