Gamecocks Ready for Montana in NCAA Tournament
#18 Women’s Soccer vs. Montana
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The 18th-ranked University of South Carolina women’s soccer team (10-4-0, 6-2-0 SEC) is headed to Wilson, N.C. for the First Round of the 2020-21 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament to take on Montana (9-1-0, 7-1-0 Big Sky). The tournament has been reduced from 64 teams to 48 teams this season with the top 16 seeds receiving a bye. The match can be streamed on NCAA.com on April 28, at 6 p.m. with the match being played at J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex.
CAROLINA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Gamecocks hold a 17-12-3 mark all-time at the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina has advanced out of the first round for four straight years. Carolina has reached the College Cup once in program history back in 2017 and have reached the NCAA Quarterfinals three times (2016, 2017, 2019).
SCOUTING MONTANA
Montana (9-1-0, 7-1-0 Big Sky) was only able to take on six different opponents during the 2020-21 season with five of those teams playing in the Big Sky conference. The Griz captured the Big Sky automatic bid due to COVID issues cutting their conference tournament short and Northern Arizona being forced to forfeit. The Grizzlies scored 21 goals and allowed six in their 10 matches this season. Senior forward Alexa Coyle is the team’s leading scorer with five goals on 27 shots with two being gamewinners. Fellow seniors Avery Adams and Taylor Stoeger are the only other players with three or more goals this season with Adams scoring three out of the midfield with Stoeger a forward. Redshirt senior Claire Howard, the Grizzlies starting goalkeeper, enters the tournament with plenty of experience with 71 total starts in her career. She has played every every minute for the Griz in goal this season and has a goals against average of 0.58 and has made 26 saves while shutting out six opponents.
LAST TIME OUT – CLEMSON
No. 11 South Carolina women’s soccer (10-4-0, 6-2-0 SEC) dropped a tough match against No. 8 Clemson on a rainy night at Stone Stadium on April 10. The Tigers used two second-half goals to come from behind and defeat the Gamecocks.
Corinna Zullo scored the Gamecocks’ lone goal in the first half after a through ball from fellow freshman Catherine Barry. Of the 29 goals Carolina has scored this season, 15 have come from the freshman class. Zullo, who has scored four goals this season, scored the goal in the 28th minute.
Both of Clemson’s goals came from Megan Bornkamp, a freshman midfielder, with both coming in the final 20 minutes of action. The first came off a rebound opportunity that came off the crossbar in the 71st minute with the other squeaking past Heather Hinz in the 82nd minute.
THE SPRING GAMECOCKS
On top of Anna Patten leaving the Gamecocks for the professional ranks the Gamecocks will look different for multiple other reasons. Defenders Sarah Eskew and Caitlyn Leffler along with Luciana Zullo and Rylee Forster all not available for the remainder of the spring due to injury while four additional Gamecocks have moved on from collegiate soccer to pursue internships, graduate or other professional development opportunities. In total Carolina enters the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament 19 healthy student-athletes.
FRESHMAN PHENOMS
The Gamecocks have had an influx of young talent this season with over half (15) of Carolina’s 29 goals this season coming from true freshmen. Catherine Barry leads the way with six this season while Corinna Zullo, Rylee Forster and Ranya Senhaji all scoring multiple goals this season. Midfielder Brianna Behm added her name to the freshman scoring list against Elon, increasing the percentage of points from freshman up to 46.3 percent this season, the second highest percentage in the SEC behind just Texas A&M (48.1). Carolina and A&M are tied for the most goals in the SEC by freshmen with both programs getting 15 goals from their rookies. Catherine Barry also tied the program’s freshman game-winning goals record, scoring her fourth against Elon to tie herself with Jennie Ondo (1996).
GAMECOCKS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT RECORD BOOKS
With much of the Gamecocks success in the NCAA Tournament coming in the last few years a number of current NCAA Tournament program records are in range of being broken. Riley Tanner is tied for second in program history with three goals in the NCAA Tournament, all coming in the 2019 tournament, and is tied for fifth in total points with seven. Lauren Chang also is tied for ninth in career points in the NCAA Tournament with four. The 2020-21 senior class has the second-best winning percentage in program history at 72.7 percent (8-3-0), just behind the 2019 senior class who ended with a winning percentage of 73.3 at 11-4-0.
ENTERING THE TOURNAMENT RANKED
The latest United Soccer Coaches top-25 rankings have the Gamecocks at No. 18 in the country after ending the spring season 3-1-0, the latest result coming against Clemson on April 10. South Carolina has been ranked in the last 14 national polls that have now returned to the top 25 format after only have the top 15 during the fall portion of the season. Carolina has been in the last 58 United Soccer Coaches Polls that have used the top 25 format.
Four other SEC teams are inside the latest top 25 with Arkansas sitting at No. 7 followed by Texas A&M at No. 11 and Vanderbilt at No. 16 and capped off by Ole Miss at No. 24.
GAMECOCKS ADD A PAIR TO 2021 SIGNING CLASS
Last week the University of South Carolina announced the signing of a pair of student-athletes that will join the program in the fall of 2021. Carolina welcomes transfer Remi Swartz, a defender from Duke, while Taylor Jacobson will join as a freshman midfielder.
Swartz was a part of the Blue Devils 2017 NCAA College Cup run, the same College Cup that the Gamecocks were a part of on the opposite side of the bracket. She’s played in 42 matches in her collegiate career and has started in eight while scoring once and adding one assist. Swartz was named to the ACC Honor Roll in 2018 and aided Duke to eight shutouts in 2019 with three of those against ACC opponents.
An outside back and midfielder for Orlando City’s ECNL side, Jacobson was a part of the Olympic Development program, representing her home state for two years. She decided to forego her remaining time at the high school level to train with former United State Men’s National Team player, and development coach, Eddie Johnson. Jacobson aided Orlando City qualify for the North American cup twice while the team captain. She was an honor roll member every semester in high school and was a part of the National Honor Society. Jacobson also plans to major if sports management.
SAM CHANG RETURNING AFTER INTERNATIONAL DUTY
After making her international debut in Feb., redshirt sophomore Samantha Chang returned to Canada for a pair of international friendlies that forced her to miss a pair of spring matches with the Gamecocks. Carolina went 1-1-0 during that span and she returned for the exhibition against UNC on April 17.
Chang has continued to make waves on the international level, making her Senior National Team debut with Canada at the 2021 She Believes Cup against Argentina. After earning the roster spot in camp, the Mississauga, Ontario, native helped the Canadians win their match over Argentina. Chang entered the match in the second half with the score locked at 0-0 and helped keep Argentina out of goal and eventually Canada found the back of the net in extra time.
UP NEXT
The winner of the South Carolina-Montana match will take on the No. 13 seed Georgetown. The second-round match will take place on May 1, at 6 p.m. in Wilson, NC at the J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex and streamed on NCAA.com.
QUICK NOTES VS. MONTANA
– The matchup between South Carolina and Montana is the first between the two programs
– The match will be held in Wilson, NC, in part with the rest of the 2020-21 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament that will be entirely done in the state of North Carolina from April 27-May 17
– Montana has won one NCAA Tournament match in its history back in 2000 against Washington State by a score of 1-0
– The 2020-21 NCAA Tournament is the 14th time in program history they will play in the national tournament and the eighth straight dating back to 2013
– Shelley Smith is 17-11-3 in the NCAA Tournament in her career with Chris Citowicki 0-1-0 with his only appearance coming in 2018
