Before her freshman season with the Gamecocks, redshirt freshman midfielder Samantha Chang was excited to leave her home nation of Canada to play in front of thousands of Gamecock fans at Stone Stadium.
“I always knew I was going to come and play in the States,” Chang said. “When I came and visited [South Carolina], I felt like it was the one. … When I would go on visits to other schools I just kept comparing back to [South Carolina].”
However, her 2018 season with South Carolina did not go as expected.
A few months before Chang was supposed to take the field with the Gamecocks, she tore her ACL, causing her to take a medical redshirt and not participate in the upcoming season.
“Obviously it was really hard, last year, not to play, because for so many years, I was excited to come, excited to play, and then my goals and the reality of it changed when I got injured, which was very sad at first, obviously, but you kind of just have to adjust and embrace your situation.” Chang said.
Despite her limited role on the pitch, she still did all she could do on the sidelines to help out her teammates.
“I played a bigger part on the bench, obviously. In every game, like, my goal each game was to be as loud as possible because I couldn’t contribute on the field," Chang said. "Just staying positive on the bench and just encouraging the girls and giving constructive criticism when it’s needed, too. So I was just really trying to be a good teammate.”
After sitting out last season, Chang was eager to make an impact on the field for the first time for South Carolina in the 2019 season.
And that she did — in the first match of the season, nonetheless.
In South Carolina’s 2-1 win over No. 21 NC State, Chang recorded not one, but two assists to help the Gamecocks pick up their first win of the season. Not long after the season opener, Chang picked up her first career goal as a Gamecock in a 6-0 win over Jacksonville.
“It was definitely an awesome experience,” Chang said. “Awesome moments, for me, because I had worked so hard in the past year to try and get to that point and to see it come off in games like that, it felt very rewarding that everything that I did last year, I did for a reason.”
Now, with Chang kicking off her redshirt freshman campaign, she has big goals going forward with her career and hopes to be a valuable player for her fellow teammates.
“My goals for South Carolina is to try and be the best player I can be for the team,” Chang said. “No matter what position I’m playing in, whatever the circumstance, I’m just trying to be the best player that the team needs and also trying to be a very consistent player for the team, always hardworking and doing everything that I can, no matter if things are going my way or not.”