Gamecocks Prep for Program-Record 6th Straight NCAA Tournament
Earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament is always exciting, but for South Carolina women’s soccer, it’s also an expectation. The Gamecocks established a program record with its sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament this season, earning a No. 3 seed, and South Carolina is making its 11th appearance in the postseason in head coach Shelley Smith’s 18 years at the school as they host UNC Greensboro in the first round on Friday.
Lauren Chang
“That’s a huge accomplishment,” Smith said. “It’s a standard in this program that we’ve kept, and we’re definitely proud of that.
“We’re obviously very excited about being in the NCAA Tournament again. It is quite an accomplishment, and we definitely don’t take it for granted. The fact that we are home again is a testament to what this team has done this year. They have earned that right. We’re really excited to be able to play at Stone Stadium again.”
“Just building off our past and history with the NCAA Tournament, it means so much,” said sophomore Lauren Chang. “It’s a new year. It’s a new season. It’s win or go home, so I’m really excited for this. The NCAA Tournament means everything for the program, but right now, it just means we have to get to work.”
The Gamecocks are not just happy to be there, especially after reaching the College Cup semi-finals last season for the first time, and South Carolina had also reached the quarterfinals in 2014 and 2016.
“We’re really happy to be in it,” said junior captain and 2018 SEC Defensive Player of the Year Grace Fisk. “People won’t forget last year, but we are new team this season and we have different attributes to us. Teams coming against us will see that we were a College Cup team last year, and they may want to prove a point, which is fair enough. We’ll be ready to combat anything they throw at us.”
The 2018 Gamecocks are the youngest team in program history with 26 underclassmen on the roster, including 13 freshmen and only one senior. However, the returning players know what it’s like in the postseason and won’t be shell-shocked when the tournament kicks off.
“We know what we’re capable of, and we know we’re a good team,” Fisk said. “The key is to take it one game at a time. Every team is going to bring different challenges. We know if we play our game the way we can, we can combat any team. We believe in ourselves. We have to make sure we do our jobs and get better every time.”
“I’ve already had a year under my belt, and it just makes me excited because I know how fun this tournament is,” Chang said. “I’m not as nervous as I was last year, for sure.”
“We believe in ourselves.”
– Grace Fisk, Junior
“We thought last year we were going to struggle a little bit, not having all those seniors, and the players that returned stepped up and filled some huge shoes that we lost,” Smith said. “They did a great job in taking the program to new heights. You can do it with whatever class of players you have when you have quality players that believe in each other and can do a job together.
Grace Fisk
“With an even younger team this year, we knew there would be some growing pains, but what they have accomplished has been amazing. It shows a lot about the future of the program as well.”
The Gamecocks are determined to get back on track after dropping three of their final five matches, with two of those coming in overtime. South Carolina out-shot its opponents in two of those losses, but they haven’t been able to finish those shots as often as they would like.
“We’ve shown all year that we can play with anyone in the country,” Smith said. “We’ve played teams off the field, but in soccer, that’s not good enough sometimes. You have to put the ball in the net. That’s been a frustration where we’ve hit the post several times in games.
“We didn’t have the same kind of intensity when we played LSU the second time (in the SEC Tournament), and I think this young team has learned what it takes every time you step on the field, the kind of intensity, and the kind of mentality you have to have at this level. It is win or go home. We had a chance to do that at the SEC Tournament. We know what it felt like when we didn’t put our best foot forward, so I know this team will ready on Friday.”
“When we got back from the SEC Tournament, we took two days off, and told ourselves this is a reset button,” Chang said. “This season is completely different than before. We’ve had time to go back and look at film, go do extra touches, work on what we need to do individually, and that’s really helpful moving forward.”
Making the NCAA Tournament may be routine, but the Gamecocks are still excited for every opportunity.
“Absolutely,” Fisk said. “The NCAAs are so exciting, and we’re very honored to be in it. We really want to give it a good go.”
