Milazzo's Versatility Makes Her a Reliable Asset for the Gamecocks

It doesn’t matter what position she has to play, senior defender Tatumn Milazzo plays it well. While many of her contributions occur without much fanfare, Milazzo is someone the coaching staff simply wants to have on the pitch, and she hopes 2019 is her time to shine.

“I had to look at things with the idea that the team is bigger than you,” Milazzo said. “If I can help out the team in anyway, then it doesn’t matter what position it is. I get to be on the field, so I should take that as an opportunity to get better wherever they’re trying to put me.

“As a senior, I just want to set a standard of what we expect. I want to be able to help other players out when needed because I had older players help me when I was a freshman. That really helped me.”

Playing alongside First Team All-SEC goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Grace Fisk, Milazzo has quietly become a key factor in South Carolina consistently backing up its reputation as one of the top defensive teams in country.  Milazzo played in every game as a freshman and has been a starter each of the last two years. She has been a part of two SEC Championship teams as well as South Carolina’s 2017 College Cup semifinal team. Last season, she had to shift around the back line; playing center back when Fisk was still playing for the English U-20 National Team and later switched sides of the field when teammate Jackie Schaeffer went down with injury.

“Originally I was playing right back, and when Jackie got hurt, I had to go to left center back, and then right center back when Grace was gone,” Milazzo said. “It can be difficult because I had never played center back. When I played club soccer, I was strictly an outside back. It was kind of difficult to learn the new position fairly quickly. They’re very different. My favorite part of outside back is being able to get forward and be in the attack. At center back, you can’t do that because you have to hold down the back line.”

Milazzo has overcome some bumps in the road as well after suffering a minor knee injury near the end of her sophomore year but played through the pain in the postseason while wearing a bulky knee brace.

“I had it scoped after the season, and it was fine, although I couldn’t run for two months while I recovered,” Milazzo said.

“That’s one of the best things about playing in this program; the fans and support we have.”
– Tatumn  Milazzo

While defensive players may not score a lot of goals, Milazzo’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. She earned third-team All-Region honors last year and second team All-SEC honors as a sophomore. She came up big on the offensive end last season, scoring her first career goal in a win over Kentucky and later scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory at Georgia.

“I definitely want to be more in the attack when I can,” Milazzo said. “We struggled last year with not being able to score a lot, and I think I have the ability to go out and make things happen. If I push myself more this year, I think I can be in the attack more. I do enjoy defending, though! Scoring a goal is pretty great, but maybe it’s because it didn’t happen a lot.

“If I score this year, I think I’m going to run out to the corner flag and do a little punch thing.”

The Gamecocks posted nine shutouts last year to help Krzeczowski become the SEC’s all-time leader for clean sheets. Krzeczowski and the defenders know that shutouts are a team effort, and Milazzo said they take pride in keeping the program’s tradition of being stalwarts on defense.

“When the other team scores, I let it bother me for just a little bit, but then I have to move on to the next thing because I don’t want it hanging over me for the rest of the game,” Milazzo said. “You don’t want to mess yourself up mentally.”

As she prepares for her last season in the Garnet and Black, Milazzo looks forward to backing up that reputation once again and playing in front of the crowd at Stone Stadium.

“To hear your name called out in front of the crowd, it’s just the coolest thing ever,” Milazzo said. “That’s one of the best things about playing in this program; the fans and support we have.”

Of course, she wouldn’t mind increasing her output on offense as well.

“I’d like to score three goals because I scored two last year,” Milazzo said with a laugh. “I want to get back to winning the SEC again and get back to the [College Cup]. That was such a cool experience, and I think with what we have this year, we have a good chance of doing that.

“I feel more ready this year than any other year. I’ve prepared three years to be the best I can be. It doesn’t matter where I play.”