Chelsea Drennan's journey to become a Gamecock started back in high school. She was a four-star recruit out of T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, S.C., and won South Carolina Coaches Association of Women’s Sports Class 4A state Player of the Year twice and won the Gatorade State Girls Soccer Player of the Year in the state of South Carolina her senior year.
Her decision to come to South Carolina was a tricky one, something she had to put some thought into.
“Growing up, my dad actually went to Georgia, so kind of contradicting to coming here,” Drennan said. “But I grew up in SEC football, watching all the football games all the time at Georgia. I knew I wanted to stay in the South — close to home, but not too close. Clemson was too close to home for me, and I hate Clemson. I knew I wanted to stay in the South, and I knew I wanted to go to a big school, a big SEC school.”
When she arrived, though, she immediately started to make an impact on coach Shelley Smith’s team. Her freshman year, she started 20 out of 23 matches and set the school’s freshman record for assists with 12.
In her sophomore season, the season when South Carolina made it to the NCAA Tournament semifinals, she started every game. She led the Gamecocks in assists with seven and netted three goals. Her most unforgettable assist came that year.
“My most memorable one is probably against Florida my sophomore year,” Drennan said. “It was a corner kick at the end, and I’m pretty sure it was Savannah (McCaskill) that scored off of it. That was a huge win for us. We were up 2-0 in the first half. Second half came, and Florida is a great team and came back to tie it up 2-2. Our team has always been known to be pretty relentless, so we got a corner with not even five minutes left and Savannah put it away.”
In her senior season, Drennan became the program leader in career assists, career game-winning assists and second in single season assists. She helped lead South Carolina to a single year program record in wins, and a visit to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament.