With senior All-American forward Savannah McCaskill leading the charge, the South Carolina women’s soccer team looks to build on its historic 2016 season.
The Gamecocks, coached by Shelley Smith, are defending an SEC regular-season title capped off by a deep NCAA Tournament run before being eliminated by North Carolina in the Elite Eight.
Going 17-0-1 in the regular season, USC made SEC history as the first team in the conference to record an undefeated regular season and ended the year ranked No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches (formerly the NSCAA) poll.
While the tournament elimination — a 1-0 loss to Anson Dorrance’s Tar Heels — was hard to swallow, the return of McCaskill is a bright spot for the Gamecocks to build on this season.
“We’re going to carry on [the seniors’] legacy and we’re going to make sure what they did to help us, we’re going to follow in their footsteps and just do the best we can,” McCaskill said after the loss.
McCaskill made program history in 2016, setting single-season records for points (45) and goals (17), while being named SEC Offensive Player of the Year and earning NSCAA First Team All-America honors. She and sophomore keeper Mikayla Krzeczowski were named to the 2017 Women's MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List by the United Soccer Coaches on Aug. 8. The trophy is given annually by the Missouri Athletic Club and honors the top male and female college soccer players.
Twenty-one-year-old McCaskill is projected to have another standout year, taking no time off, as she played for the U.S. Women's National Team and U-23 squad this summer.
"Playing with extremely high caliber players for two weeks at a time is huge because you see all levels of talent," McCaskill told GamecocksOnline. "You're playing with some of the best players in the country. Being in that environment, if there's something I learned there, I can bring it back here and hopefully help the team reach new levels of play."
Like McCaskill, who was named a semi-finalist for the Hermann last season, Krzeczowski set her fair share of program records. She holds the lowest single-season goals against average (0.43) and recorded the most shutouts ever by a freshman with 11, including two in the NCAA Tournament against No. 20 Colorado and No. 4 BYU.
McCaskill and Krzeczowski are two of five starters and 12 letter winners who will return to the Gamecocks this season. They are joined by starters Dominique Babbitt, Lindsey Lane and Anna Conklin, who is a key member of the Gamecocks’ back line that set a program-best 0.41 goals against average in 2016.
Nine seniors graduated last season, including team captain Chelsea Drennan and speedy forwards Daija Griffin and Sophie Groff. Drennan led the team in assists in all four years of her collegiate career and set the school record for career assists with 40. The Gamecocks will look to not only fill her role as a dynamic offensive-minded midfielder, but also her role as a physical and vocal leader, especially with 13 freshmen joining the team this season.
“They’ve learned a lot from the senior group that just left and kind of what needs to be done to continue that kind of success going forward,” Smith told GamecocksOnline. “They’ve already done a great job to take their place and lead the team. We have some great players that are growing into their senior year and again taking leadership. It’s not just them but everyone returning is like upper classmen.”
Following the team’s tournament elimination in November, Smith and her staff worked to fine tune returning players’ on-field techniques during the spring.
“The spring is a huge time for us to develop, especially as individual players,” Smith told GamecocksOnline. “We focus a lot more on some of their individual touches, techniques, functional training for their position. We do some tactical training as well.”
The Gamecocks are ranked No. 4 in the 2017 preseason poll, which is the highest ranking among all SEC teams and the third time they’ve started the season in the Top 15 in the last four years. Florida is just behind them at No. 7, while Auburn comes in at No. 10 Auburn and Arkansas at No. 17.
The Gamecocks play against 10 teams that recorded at least 10 wins last season with seven of their opponents qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. They’ll kick off their regular season at home against Central Florida at 7 p.m. on Aug. 18.