Oct. 19, 2011

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

South Carolina at LSU | Thursday, 8 p.m. (ET)

Live Stats | Live Webcast (Paid) | Game Notes

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina hits the road Thursday night for an SEC derby match against the LSU Tigers in a match between two teams tied for the first in the conference standings with only three fixtures remaining. Kickoff between the Gamecocks and Tigers is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Baton Rouge.

The Gamecocks hold a 7-2-5 series advantage against LSU, but the teams are an even 1-1-4 since the 2007 season. Five of the last seven meetings between the two teams have gone to overtime, and neither team has scored more than one goal in a match since Carolina took a 2-1 overtime victory in 2006.

The rivalry between two of the premier teams in the league reached a climax in the 2009 season when LSU defeated South Carolina for the first time in Baton Rouge, 1-0, before the Gamecocks rebounded to defeat the Tigers in the SEC Tournament Final to lift the hardware. The teams met twice again last season with South Carolina taking the 1-0 win in Columbia before again defeating LSU on penalty kicks in the SEC Tournament, this time in the semifinal round.

ON THE HORIZON
The Gamecocks return home Sunday to take on Arkansas at 1 p.m. for Senior Day. The regular season will then end next Friday night in Gainesville, Fla., with a match against the nationally-ranked Florida Gators.

SCOUTING LSU
LSU enters the weekend with an 11-5-1 record and is in the middle of a four-way tie for first in the SEC overall standings at 18 points (6-2-0). The Tigers are led by senior Taryne Boudreau who has scored nine goals and five assists for 23 points. Fellow Canadian Natalie Martineau has contributed eight assists, and Carlie Banks has seven assists to help pace the attack. In goal, senior Mo Isom has returned to top form with a 0.82 goals against average and six shutouts.

CAROLINA VS THE SEC WEST
South Carolina historically has enjoyed greater success against SEC West foes than SEC East foes by the surprising note that the Gamecocks hold the series advantage against all six SEC West schools but does not have the advantage against any of the SEC East schools. The Gamecocks are 48-20-13 (.673) all-time against the West with series’ against Alabama (10-3-0), Arkansas (8-3-1), Auburn (7-5-3), LSU (7-2-5), Ole Miss (8-3-2) and Mississippi State (7-4-2). In contrast, South Carolina is 20-66-10 (.260) against SEC East schools.

GRIMSLEY HITS ANOTHER MILESTONE
Senior Kayla Grimsley became the second Gamecock to hit the 100-point milestone after scoring the first goal of the game at Georgia. Grimsley’s goal at 33:22 gave her 101 points in her career, and she now has a stat line of 41 goals and 29 assists for 111 points in 89 career games. Grimsley is the only active player in the SEC with over 100 career points and is fifth on the NCAA active career points list.

WHITNEY FALLS TO INJURY
Freshman defender Ali Whitney went down at the start of the second half against Ole Miss to a leg injury that will have the starting left back out for the remainder of the regular season. She started 14 of Carolina’s 17 games at left back and was a threat with her deep throw-ins and accurate corner kicks. Senior Ali Glemser and redshirt freshman Lauren Hyden are candidates start in her place. The team may also reorganize the central defenders and play either Andie Romness or Christa Neary, both true freshmen, at left back.

SHUTOUT DEFENSE
Defense has been the calling card for Shelley Smith’s Gamecocks, and the 2011 season shows early signs of continuing that character trait despite the abundance of youth in the regular rotation. South Carolina has posted shutouts in eight of its 12 wins and leads the SEC with 12 goals against, a 0.69 goals against average and a 84.0 save percentage.

MORE ON THE BACKLINE
Senior Ellen Fahey (left center back) and redshirt junior Dani Henry (right back) were both named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week last week as the leaders of the backline that has limited five of eight SEC opponents to four shots on goal or less. In SEC play, the Gamecocks have allowed an SEC-low 17 points, and South Carolina is the only team that has not allowed two goals in a game more than once in conference play.

D’ANGELO MAKES AN IMPACT
Freshman goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo ranks 33rd in the country in goals against average at 0.70 and is 5th among the nation’s freshmen in the category, and she is also 38th in the country in save percentage at .841 and is fourth among the nation’s freshmen, but it’s the intangibles that has the national media paying attention. The Canadian international ranks 1st in the SEC in both goals against average and save percentage in conference games and all games, and she has single-handedly kept South Carolina in games with more than a dozen “how did she do that” saves that had “All White Kit’s” blogger Chris Henderson write “(D’Angelo) should be one of the favorites for freshman All-America honors and looks like rounding into one of the SEC’s best.”