Oct. 27, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – On a rainy night in Columbia and on a soak-drenched field, the South Carolina women’s soccer team tied nationally ranked Florida 1-1 on Friday evening in the regular season finale for both schools. South Carolina finishes the regular season with an 11-5-4 record and a 5-2-4 mark in the SEC. Florida, ranked as high as No. 13 in the nation, is now 11-4-4 and 7-1-3 in the conference. USC finishes the regular season undefeated at home as well with an 8-0-3 record. Carolina also finishes conference play with 19 points and will be the fifth seed at the conference tournament. The Gamecocks will face Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 8:30 pm ET.
“It was the worst I have ever seen our field and we have not been on a field like that in a long time,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “Both teams battled and had to change game plans, it took a lot of work, a lot of heart and our players really had to focus. It becomes not a soccer match, but more of a challenge against a very good team. Both teams battled to a tie. Disappointed in our lack of finishing tonight but I was very happy with what we created. I’m glad we were able to come away without a loss.”
Mary Worthen would put the Gamecocks on top early into the second half as she took a feed from midfielder Kim Miller and broke into the UF penalty box where she got into the six-yard box and knocked a shot past Gator keeper Brittni Goodwin to give USC a one-goal lead. The goal for Worthen was her third of the season.
Florida would tie the match at the 68:00 mark in the second half though as a ball that appeared to be cleared by a USC defender off a Florida corner kick was handled by the Gators Shana Hudson and knocked in past USC goalkeeper Laura Armstrong.
The rest of the match would be a see-saw affair with the soccer ball skipping all across the field and the players from each team driving balls through puddles and holes of water. Florida came away with a 12-10 shot advantage as well as 7-6 edge in corner kicks. Goodwin made five saves for the Gators with Armstrong making four saves for the Gamecocks. The match marked Carolina’s fourth consecutive overtime match to end the season.
“We are very happy to preserve our unbeaten streak at home; that takes a lot of pride and heart to defend the field against one of the top teams in the country in Florida,” said Coach Smith. “Going into SEC’s, you want to end in a high note and I think we proved that tonight we can challenge the best. Florida is a great team and they are going to do great things in the postseason. They won the championship outright and deserve to be on the top. We are not far behind them in points and we are happy to challenge and get the opportunity to win the game tonight.”
Live stats and live audio broadcast from the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. will be available at uscsports.com.
