Oct. 14, 2011

Final Stats

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Senior Kayla Grimsley scored her 40th career goal in the second half to lead South Carolina to its first win at Mississippi State since the 2003 season. The Gamecocks (11-5-0, 5-2-0 SEC) took the 1-0 shutout victory with Grimsley’s goal in the 58th minute to improve South Carolina’s win streak to four games.

Freshman Sabrina D’Angelo recorded her third career shutout with two saves to prevent the Bulldogs (4-8-3, 1-5-1 SEC) from getting a goal. It is the first loss for Mississippi State at home this season after going unbeaten in their previous seven matches in Starkville, including a 2-0 victory over then-No. 20 Auburn two weeks ago.

“This has been a tough place to play. The players did a good job to show up for the game from the start. The second half we came out a little bit more composured to put away a good chance by Kayla. Credit the Mississippi State keeper, she made some great saves, but we put together the pressure and finally got a goal.”

South Carolina’s backline limited the Bulldogs to just four shots total and two shots on goal. It is the fourth time in the last five games that South Carolina has limited the opposition to four shots on goal or less.

The Gamecocks nearly took the lead just seven minutes into the match when Maria Petroni and Kayla Grimsley combined to feed Lolly Holland in the box, but the senior’s goal was nullified by an offsides call. The call brought back memories of Carolina’s 2007 trip to Starkville that saw the lone goal in the match called back due to an offsides call.

Just two minutes later the Gamecocks again nearly struck gold when Grimsley fed Au from six yards out, but Bulldogs keeper Skylar Rosson collected the save. Despite earning nine shots in the first half, the Gamecocks only pressured Rosson three times with the redshirt junior getting saves on all three. South Carolina was caught offsides four times in the half, taking away opportunities on goal.

The Gamecocks again came out strong to start the half and were whistled for an offsides just 90 seconds into the stanza. Petroni came close to scoring the first goal but the same pattern with an offsides call. In the 54th, Lolly Holland was able to get the ball onside and struck a rifle at the net that was saved by Rosson.

It wasn’t until Grimsley’s goal at 57:09 broke the scoreless match when she ran through the backline before firing a shot from near the top of the ’18. The goal was Grimsley’s 109th point, moving her just six points away from tying Jennie Ondo’s program record of 115 points as a member of the Garnet and Black.

Ellen Fahey looked to make it 2-0 after catching Rosson out of position, but a Bulldog defender was able to step in front of the ball for the team save on the empty net. Neither team had a strong look on goal as the Gamecocks took their 1-0 win.

South Carolina takes on the Ole Miss Rebels Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET) to finish off the weekend.