The No. 4 South Carolina women’s soccer team defeated Connecticut 3-0 on the road Thursday night, extending its season-opening undefeated streak to three games in the process.
After an evenly-matched first half, the Gamecocks relied on strong defense and a barrage of goal-scoring opportunities in the final 30 minutes of the match to clinch the victory.
“I’m very proud of the team effort. It was a battle,” head coach Shelley Smith said. “UConn is difficult to play against ... they played with a lot of energy and disrupted our play, and we found our way in the second half.”
South Carolina had the upper hand early, forcing Connecticut’s junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mahoney to make two saves within the opening 16 minutes.
As the first half went on, momentum gradually started to shift the host’s way. Senior forward Emma Zaccagnini mustered two shots on goal midway through the first half, both of which were saved by South Carolina senior goalkeeper Heather Hinz.
The first half ended with both teams on near equal footing – South Carolina held a 5-3 advantage in total shots – but the Huskies opened the second half with a flurry of close chances, testing Hinz and the Gamecocks' backline with four shots in the span of 15 minutes.
Smith gave credit to South Carolina’s defense, which was able to remain patient and composed under pressure, and extended the team’s shutout streak to 270 minutes.
“(The defense) doesn’t give them a lot of looks, and when they do have some, Heather (Hinz) has come up with huge saves as she did again tonight,” Smith said. “That’s kept us in games, and again, given us a chance to get the first goal, which is a big difference.”
Shortly after the Huskies' offensive barrage, fifth-year midfielder Samantha Chang opened the scoring for the Gamecocks in the 63rd minute. Her goal proved to be the turning point of the game – from that point onward, South Carolina registered eight shots (five on goal) to Connecticut’s two. Goals from senior forward Eveleen Hahn and fifth-year midfielder Claire Griffiths in the final 10 minutes put the match out of reach.
“Any time you can finally breakthrough and find a goal, it changes the game,” Smith said. “The attack was great in that second half – we really strung some great passes together to create good goals.”
Hinz, the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week, came up big on many occasions for the Gamecocks, making four total saves and earning another clean sheet. Smith praised Hinz for being able to come up with big saves whenever the team needs her.
“We’ve played some good attackers, and she’s found a way to keep the ball out of the net, and that’s huge,” Smith said. “And have confidence back there – winning balls in the air, coming out, stopping attacks, holding the ball – it’s been very solid performances.”
Another top performer was freshman forward Shae O’Rourke, who assisted Chang’s and Hahn’s goals. O’Rourke now has three goal contributions in two games, and Smith said she was proud of her ability to make an impact offensively when coming off the bench.
“We knew she would be someone that could contribute right away just from the talent we saw in her as a new club player, and now she’s learned a lot in her time already here, and she’s getting better and better,” Smith said.
South Carolina will look to continue its undefeated streak on Sunday against Vermont at 2 p.m. This match will be a special one for Smith, who attended Vermont and captained its women’s soccer team in the early 1990s.
“A lot of them haven’t been to the state before. It’ll be pretty cool to show them a beautiful area of the country and where I grew up and went to college, so it’s a special place,” Smith said.