Head coach Shelley Smith and the No. 3 ranked South Carolina women’s soccer team stood tall on Sunday, continuing their perfect home record with a 3-0 victory over High Point at Stone Stadium.
“I think we had a great game tonight,” Smith said. “We came out and played very well, we played a lot of players that hadn’t had a lot of minutes yet so everyone throughout the game kept our level up and did an excellent job to come off the bench, do their jobs [and to] keep the pressure on High Point. We kept them in their half and in our attacking half for most of the game, so that was very impressive. When we needed a stop, our defense came up huge. So overall, I think it was a great performance."
Freshman forward Luciana Zullo netted her first career goal for the Gamecocks in the 32nd minute. Zullo’s goal, assisted by midfielder Breukelen Woodard, set the tone for the remainder of the game for USC.
Following Zullo’s opener, midfielder Sarah Eskew added a goal to keep the Gamecocks in control going into the second period of play.
The goals kept pouring in, as sophomore Elexa Bahr scored the third goal for the Gamecocks, who put three in the back of the net for the first time this season.
With a three-goal lead in the second half, backup freshman goalkeeper Alexis McMullen was placed in for senior starter Mikayla Krzeczowski. While Krzeczowski did not record any saves due to a solid performance from the USC back line, McMullen recorded two in her Gamecock debut. Smith mentioned that in addition to McMullen, many new faces would start in the lineup this year, including Eskew and Zullo.
“This year, I think we’ve had some new names show up because half of our team are freshmen," Smith said after the win. "We’re going to need that group to come in and do a job for us. Sarah Eskew showed what she can do, Zullo [had] another great game and showed what she can do to turn the defense, obviously Lexi (McMullen) showed she was great in goal, very agile, so all of them are going to contribute this year.”
This weekend, the Gamecocks will travel to South Bend, Indiana, for matches against Notre Dame on Friday and Michigan on Sunday. Smith noted that the games against the Fighting Irish and Wolverines would keep her team prepped for conference play later this fall.
“We understand these are great opponents, there’s a reason they’re on our schedule," Smith said. "We want to play some top competition to prepare us for our SEC play and postseason. We have a quality side, so we want to challenge ourselves. We’re prepared, the SEC is so difficult, and so we want to test ourselves on the road especially. We haven’t found a win on the road yet, so this is a great opportunity for us to play some top teams in the Midwest.”
The Gamecocks will return home Sept. 10 for a 2 p.m. kickoff against Jacksonville at Stone Stadium after a trip to Clemson on Sept. 8.