March 5, 2007

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina women’s soccer team has started things off on the right foot this spring with three victories in its first couple weeks of spring exhibition play including two wins over the weekend. The Gamecocks defeated East Carolina 2-0 and Newberry College 1-0 in a small round-robin tournament held in Columbia, S.C this past weekend and opened the spring schedule a couple of weeks ago with a 7-0 win over Charleston Southern as well.

“The players have been great,” said head coach Shelley Smith. “They’ve been willing to work hard in the off-season. They are fit for this time of year. The group has done a good job to keep focus both on the field and academically. Things are falling into place right now. Our hurdles to clear are making sure people are healthy and ready for next year. We have had a couple of players have surgery; we want to get them through the spring and have them ready for the fall season. The ones that are healthy, we are working with and helping them to develop in certain areas. It is a very determined group.”

Although the team is without a few players recovering from surgery and injuries, the spring has created opportunities for other players which is helping create better depth than in year’s past. Coach Smith and her staff sees the spring as a chance to better enhance the team’s talent and to make progress in areas that need to advance.

“Right now, our players are getting back into playing mode and we are highlighting some things that we have to work and want to improve on for the fall. After the fall, we had some ideas of things. After every game in the spring we focus on the things that have come out in the game both as individuals and as a team.

Coach Smith was pleased with the first game of the spring season, in which the Gamecocks defeated Charleston Southern with seven goals from seven different players.

“The first game our offense did a very good job to finish opportunities,” said Smith. “I was pleased that seven different people scored and that is basically half of our field players. It is nice to see more people involved in the attack and finishing.”

Coach Smith also was happy with the progress made in this weekend’s games vs. East Carolina and Newberry. Despite the shorter than regulation game time, Smith took some positive signs out of their play at Stone Stadium over the weekend.

“We didn’t score as well this weekend but we did well to possess, now we have to create more scoring chances,” said Smith.

As the Gamecocks get in gear for the 2007 fall season, expectations will continue to be high for both the players and coaching staff after a solid 11-6-5 year that featured an 8-0-3 record in home games at Stone Stadium.

“The spring is a valuable experience for everyone,” said Smith. Our team really enjoyed last season. They were disappointed (in not receiving an NCAA Tournament berth) but I think they saw the hard work rewarded and the successes and awards they had from it. That makes it that much more motivating in the spring to continue that work-rate. We have a good group of returning players that will be ready to go for the fall.