Gamecocks Thwart Wildcats at Home, 3-0
Columbia, S.C. – No. 13 South Carolina women’s soccer (8-2-0, 2-1-0 SEC) bounced back against Kentucky (4-8-0, 0-3-0 SEC) with a 3-0 win on Sunday evening at Stone Stadium on ESPNU.
Captain Grace Fisk notched the game-winning goal early in the contest, which doubled as her first goal of the season. Junior Tatumn Milazzo and freshman Selma Sol Magnusdottir added goals later in the first half to help put the Wildcats away.
“We talked about [that] everyone at a point is going to drop a game in the SEC after our loss to Mississippi State,” South Carolina head coach Shelley Smith said. “We know that how you recover and how you respond shows what kind of team you are. I thought our team did a great job at understanding what we didn’t do well in that loss and come out and do some things tonight that were much better.”
The pair of goals from the defenders (Milazzo and Fisk) are the first goals scored by the Gamecock defense this season. For Fisk, it is her first goal since her gamewinner against Florida in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
“Tonight was a good opportunity to get experience for our team,” Smith said. “I think our starting group, who have been playing a lot of minutes, have really come along and learned to play with each other. I think it is always good to find different combinations and who plays best with each other. Tonight was a good chance to do that and test our team when they are put in different positions.”
Magnusdottir set up Fisk’s goal with a free kick from near the corner of the field in the 11th minute. Junior Rebecca Koch put her head on the ball and sent it toward the center of the box where Fisk buried the goal. Now with six assists this season, Magnusdottir remains at the top of the SEC with 0.75 assists per match.
Just moments later, Kentucky was forced into an odd situation. Starting goalkeeper Hannah Leonard was issued a red card just 18:13 into the match after the head referee ruled that her save on a shot by Elexa Bahr came outside the box. The ejection forced the Wildcats to play with just 10 on the field for the remainder of the match.
South Carolina took advantage of the situation by scoring a pair of goals in the 22nd and 28th minute of the match. Milazzo’s goal in the 22nd minute not only added insurance for the Gamecocksbut was also her first career goal.
With just nine field players, the Wildcats could not put together any dangerous chances and finished with just three shots, with none of them on goal.
The clean sheet against the Wildcats marks the third-consecutive match at home in which South Carolina has held its opponent scoreless. The 3-0 victory is the third-straight season the Gamecocks have shut out the Wildcats.
For South Carolina, the win propels it forward to a highly anticipated match with No. 9 Auburn (9-1-1, 1-1-1 SEC) next Friday. The Gamecocks will match up with the Tigers on Fri., Sept. 28, at 7:00 p.m. at Stone Stadium.
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