Nov. 14, 2009

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | Game Notes

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 8 South Carolina (18-3-2) and No. 12 Rutgers (14-3-4) will meet Sunday at 1 p.m. in NCAA Second Round action at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in Columbia, S.C. The teams are vying for the rights to compete in the Sweet Sixteen next weekend.

TICKETS
Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth (17 and under), students, faculty and staff. For the second consecutive day, the first 300 students will be admitted free courtesy of the Lexington County Gamecock Club and the Department of Student Life. Students must enter at the Whaley Street entrance of Stone Stadium. Students are encouraged to arrive early as the 300 free tickets from Friday’s match went early. Gates open at 12 noon.

CAROLINA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
South Carolina’s won its first NCAA Tournament game Friday night with its 4-0 win against Davidson. Playing in its third consecutive tournament and first time as a national seed (No. 2), the Gamecocks impove to 1-2-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. The first bid came in a 2-0 loss at Charlotte in 1998 when the Gamecocks went 11-6-1 in the regular season. In 2007, Carolina earned an at-large bid with a 14-6-2 record when the Gamecocks played Duke to a 1-1 draw at Athens, Ga. Duke advanced with a 4-1 edge in penalty kicks. In 2008, South Carolina dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to William & Mary at Durham, N.C.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
No. 12 Rutgers advanced to the second round with a 2-0 shutout of Duke Friday night. The Scarlet Knights have consistently been in the Top 25 this season and enter with a 14-3-4 record (7-1-3 Big EAST). Their lone conference loss came to another national No. 2 seed – Notre Dame. The team is led by senior goalkeeper Erin Guthrie – the Big EAST goalkeeper of the year – who sports a 0.44 goals against average to go with 11 shutouts. Missing in action the rest of the season due to injury is Ashley Jones who leads the team with eight goals and three assists for 19 points. Karla Schacher is next in line with five goals and four assists for 14 points.

CHASING 100
In her ninth season, South Carolina head coach Shelley Smith sports a 99-65-24 record at the helm of the Gamecocks. She is one victory away from earning win No. 100 at South Carolina. Her all-time coaching record is 140-100-26 which includes her 41-35-2 record while coaching Rhode Island for four seasons.

JACOBS RELISHES POSTSEASON PLAY
Junior Brooke Jacobs annually saves some of her best games for the NCAA Tournament. The Chambersburg, Pa., native had a breakout game against William & Mary in the 2008 first round by knocking in Carolina’s first goal and adding an assist for three points total. The striker matched the effort in Friday’s first round match by scoring the first goal of the game and adding an assist on the final goal for another thre point game. Her six points in NCAA matches are a school record.

GETTING THE W’S
South Carolina’s 18 wins are tied for third in the country behind the top two teams in this week’s national polls: #1 Stanford (20) and #2 Portland (19). UCLA, North Carolina, Notre Dame and BYU are the teams that have 18 wins this season along with the Gamecocks.

PATTON SETS THE SEC RECORD
Mollie Patton recently set the SEC record for consecutive shutouts when she notched seven straight, passing the previous record of six held by Kentucky’s Carrie Kuhnell (1995) and Auburn’s Megan Rivera (2003).

FIRST TIME OPPONENTS
The match between Rutgers and South Carolina is the first between the programs. South Carolina faced four opponents for the first time in 2009 and went 4-0 in those games. The Gamecocks defeated Louisville (3-0), Cincinnati (4-0), UCF (1-0) and South Alabama (6-1). Last season, Carolina went 0-1-2 against first time opponents, drawing UNC Wilmington and #7 Florida State before dropping a tight game to Western Carolina.

LAST TIME OUT
South Carolina scored three goals within four minutes in the early part of the second half and a stingy defense allowed just three shots on the evening as the Gamecocks defeated Davidson 4-0 on Friday night in NCAA Women’s Soccer First Round action at Stone Stadium. The win is Carolina’s first postseason victory in women’s soccer history. The match was played in front of 3,813 fans, the largest attended women’s soccer match in South Carolina history.

Kayla Grimsley tied a career-high with two goals, both coming in the second half, and Brooke Jacobs and Samantha Diaz-Matosas each recorded a goal and an assist to lead the Gamecocks on offense. Carolina was dominant on the offensive side with a 16-3 advantage in shots for the contest.