Carolina Welcomes Coastal Carolina to Stone Stadium Sunday
#10 Women’s Soccer vs. Coastal Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The 10th-ranked University of South Carolina women’s soccer team (8-3-0, 6-2-0 SEC) welcomes Coastal Carolina to Columbia this Sunday in the team’s second spring match. The competition takes place on March 21, at 2 p.m., at Stone Stadium with a broadcast available to watch on SEC Network +.
LAST TIME OUT – COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
South Carolina women’s soccer (8-3-0, 6-2-0 SEC) dominated College of Charleston (0-4-0, 0-1-0 CAA) 3-0 on March 7, in the spring season opener at Stone Stadium. Freshman forward Corinna Zullo provided the game-winning goal for the Gamecocks late in the first half and Lauren Chang and Jyllissa Harris added insurance in the second half.
“I thought our team did a great job at responding and coming out in the second half and playing match better and getting some goals because of it,” South Carolina Shelley Smith said. “We really dominated play in that second half. We were proud of them for growing and learning in just these 90 minutes today.”
Freshman goalkeeper Taylor Fox celebrated her birthday with her first career solo shutout with the Gamecocks. The rookie was only forced to make one save while facing two shots against the Cougars. Individually Catherine Barry and Ryan Gareis both finished with a team-high five shots on the day while Ranya Senhaji fired off four in her first career start. Sophomore Riane Coman made her second career start on Sunday, but her first as an outside back for the Gamecocks, playing a total of 55 minutes.
As a team the Gamecocks held a shot advantage of 26-2 with 11 of the shots on frame. More impressively is 21 of those 26 shots for the Gamecocks came in the second half. The squad also finished with 12 corner kicks and limited the Cougars to none.
SCOUTING COASTAL CAROLINA
Coastal Carolina (7-7-0, 6-4-0 Sun Belt) completed its fall season with a record of 6-5-0 and has played a total of three matches this spring with a 1-2-0 record with its latest result coming against Duke, a 6-0 defeat on the road. The Chants are led by Loranna Austin, a junior forward from Blythewood, S.C., that has scored five goals this season and has a pair of gamewinners. In goal it has been sophomore Ky Hudson who has made all 14 starts for Coastal Carolina. She holds a 1.75 goals against average and has made 77 saves which is the second most int he country this season. Another individual to watch is Sunneva Sigurvinsdottir, a senior forward who was named to the Sun Belt All-Conference First Team in 2019 after scoring six goals for Coastal.
HARRIS NAMED TO TOPDRAWERSOCCER TEAM OF THE WEEK
South Carolina women’s soccer junior midfielder turned defender Jyllissa Harris was named to TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Team of the Week after her performance against College of Charleston.
The step-in center back scored an insurance goal in the Gamecocks’ 3-0 win over the Cougars on Sunday while also making her first career start as a center back position at the collegiate level. The goal for Harris is the second of the 2020-21 season with the Hazlet, N.J., native scoring the goal off a free kick in the second half. Harris’ performance was not limited to her offensive output on Sunday as the junior help lead the Gamecocks to a dominant defensive performance, allowing just two shots in the shutout victory. Harris and the Carolina back line allowed just one shot on goal and did not allow a single shot in the second half despite only defender Camryn Dixon returning to start in the same position as in the fall portion of the season.
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 both will not be available in 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 begins the spring season with 20 healthy student-athletes.
YOUNG AND TALENTED
The Gamecocks have had an influx of young talent this season with nine of the 19 goals scored this season coming from true freshmen. Four Carolina freshmen have scored multiple goals this season with Catherine Barry leading the way with four while Corinna Zullo has scored three of her own. Of the Gamecocks 60 points this season, 45 percent of that have come from freshmen, the second highest percent in the SEC behind just Texas A&M.
MATCH PREVIEW (cont.)
NO HELP NEEDED, THIS TIME
In Carolina’s spring season opener, the team used three unassisted goals to defeat College of Charleston at Stone Stadium. Corinna Zullo, Jyllissa Harris and Lauren Chang all scored goals without direct passes, including Chang’s penalty kick goal in the second half.
For Chang, the penalty kick goal was the first of that kind this season and moves her career mark at the spot to 4-for-5.
BACK IN THE TOP 10
The latest United Soccer Coaches top-25 rankings brought the Gamecocks up to No. 10 in the country. It’s the 56th time in program history the team has sat in the top 10 of the nationally recognized poll. The first time in recorded history the Gamecocks were in the top 10 of this was in 2007 and the highest ranking the program has seen since is No. 2 in 2016.
Three other SEC teams are inside the top 25 with Vanderbilt sitting at No. 6 followed by Texas A&M at No. 12 and then Arkansas at No. 18.
ANNA PATTEN GOES PRO
Shortly after graduating from the University of South Carolina, senior defender Anna Patten struck a professional deal with her young program, Arsenal, of the Women’s Super League in England. Patten joins former Gamecock Grace Fisk (West Ham United) in the ranks of English professionals. Patten left Carolina with one SEC Championship and multiple All-SEC honors, including a First Team nod in the fall of 2020.
SAM CHANG MAKES CANADIAN DEBUT
Redshirt sophomore Samantha Chang made her Senior National Team debut with Canada at the 2021 She Believes Cup on Feb. 21, 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.
‘MATTER’ IS THE MINIMUM PATCH
As of July 30, 2020, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved rules to allow student-athletes in all sports to wear patches on their uniforms for commemorative and memorial purposes, as well as to support social justice issues. Student-athletes of the South Carolina women’s soccer program chose to wear patches that read “Matter is the Minimum” on their right sleeve.
The Gamecocks chose to wear these patches because they want to use their platform as student-athletes to take a stand against systemic racism and social injustice. The team does not tolerate any form of racism and injustice and wants to do its part to make a change. Although these patches are small, they stand for a movement that is bigger than any game.
UP NEXT
South Carolina will host Appalachian State in the third match of its four-match home stand on March 27. The match is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff with all home matches this spring season being streamed on SEC Network + via a one-camera stream.
QUICK NOTES
– The Gamecocks have only played Coastal Carolina twice in program history with the latest back in 2018, a match which Carolina won 3-0 at Stone Stadium
– The trio of Ryan Gareis, Jyllissa Harris and Lauren Chang all have scored goals against Coastal Carolina, all coming in 2018
– Since 2014 the Gamecocks have won every match against non-conference opponents at home during the regular season, a streak that has reached 23 matches in that span with the last loss coming on Sept. 5, 2014
– South Carolina holds an all-time shot advantage of 47-10 over Coastal Carolina in their two matches
