South Carolina women's soccer is back in action this fall at Stone Stadium as it hopes to use its experienced roster to aid it on its journey to win a national championship.
The team has six players returning for their fifth year, including forward Catherine Barry and defender Hallie Meadows.
Meadows and Barry will be team captains for the second season in a row alongside senior midfielder Lilly Render. Both Barry and Render said it was an honor to be elected to the role by their teammates.
"They want us to lead both on and off the field," Render said. "We're here 24/7, but there's a difference between being in the building and on the field and also hanging out and doing team stuff outside of the soccer facility."
As seniors, Barry led the team with nine goals scored and earned All-SEC First Team honors, while Meadows was a part of a defensive unit that had the best shutout percentage in the conference.
South Carolina ended its 2023 season going 12-3-6 overall and finished second in the SEC with a 8-1-12 record.
Junior defender Gracie Falla said the season was both good and bad for the team, but it was unable to claim a national championship.
The Gamecocks lost 1-0 to Texas A&M in its opening match of the SEC Tournament. South Carolina did not advance far in the NCAA Tournament either, falling to No. 3 seed Stanford in a match the Cardinals won 3-0 in Palo Alto, California.
"As a team, we fell short of what our goal was last year," said Falla. "We had a lot of positive moments and negatives that we learned on."
South Carolina is also looking to add experience to its 2024 roster through the transfer portal with fifth-year goalkeeper Jenna Hall and fifth-year defender Emma Misal.
Hall, who previously played at Bucknell, was the back-to-back Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year in 2022 and 2023, as well as a three-time All-Patriot League goalkeeper. Hall recorded a school record of 26 shutouts for Bucknell.
Misal joins the Gamecocks from Rutgers, where she was named to the All-Big Ten Third Team as a junior but missed some time during her senior year due to an injury.
From left to right, senior midfielder Lily Render, freshman midfielder Avery Galante, fifth-year forward Corinna Zullo, fifth-year midfielder Brianna Behm, junior defender and forward Micah Bryant, fifth-year forward Catherine Barry and freshman forward Katie Shea Collins line up pitch side for team introductions prior to South Carolina's match against Furman on Aug. 18, 2024, at Stone Stadium. The Gamecocks kicked off their season with a 5-1 victory over the Paladins.
Head coach Shelley Smith said she is looking forward to integrating these transfers to the roster as well as having multiple veterans return to the program.
"I'm honored that they've wanted to continue here and come back and play their fifth year," Smith said. "(I'm) excited for the experience they bring back and it just adds and lends to that depth I'm talking about ... The teams that we've had here with probably the most success are the ones that have had a lot of experienced players to lead the team."
South Carolina excelled on the defensive side of the ball last season, earning eight shutouts in the teams 12 wins. Falla said she hopes South Carolina's defense experiences a similar level of success this year.
"I thought we had a really good defensive year, like we do every year," Falla said. "That's our goal each year is to just stay consistent."
Despite its efforts on defense, the Gamecocks sometimes struggled to score during both the regular season and postseason. Smith said she hopes the offensive contributions of sophomore forward Reagan Schubach, who scored six goals in 2023, will grow after gaining a year of college soccer experience.
"She only played half (an) SEC season and she still earned All-SEC Freshman team, which is impressive," Smith said.
The Gamecocks, ranked No. 21 in the nation, kicked off its 2024 season Sunday night by defeating the Furman Paladins 5-1. Other notable games in the Gamecocks' schedule include its Palmetto Series matchup against Clemson on Sept. 5, as well as the team's conference opener against Georgia on Sept. 19.
But South Carolina still remains focused on one thing.
"We want to win a national championship and nothing shy of that. We want the SEC regular season and the SEC tournament," Meadows said. "We want it all, and we're so ready to get started and start proving ourselves."