Gamecocks Battle Wisconsin In Round Two Of NCAA Tournament Friday

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 1 seeded South Carolina women’s soccer (16-2-1) is set to host Wisconsin (14-5-2) in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament on Friday, Nov. 17. Kickoff from Stone Stadium is set for 6 p.m. Friday’s contest will mark the first meeting between the two schools.

The Gamecocks will also welcome Vanderbilt and Santa Clara to Columbia for the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Commodores and Broncos kick off Friday’s action with their match at 3 p.m. ET, and the winners of the two matches will play in the NCAA Sweet 16 at Stone Stadium on Sunday at 2 p.m.

This season marks Carolina’s 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the 10th time in the last 11 years it has reached the event. The Gamecocks, who have advanced to the second round in four of the last five years, sport a mark of 10-9-3 in NCAA Tournament games and a 3-3 record in round two. Carolina is 8-3-1 in the NCAA Tournament when facing a team at Stone Stadium, and 10 of its 11 NCAA Tournament appearances have come under coach Shelley Smith. The Gamecocks are 12-2-0 against teams that qualified for the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina earned the program’s second-straight NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed during the selection show on Nov. 6. This season marks the fourth time the Gamecocks headed into the NCAA Tournament with a national seed. Carolina, which was a No. 2 seed in 2009 and a No. 3 seed for the 2013 NCAA Tournament, garnered the school’s first top seed last fall.

Wisconsin cruised past Toledo in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last Friday after netting five goals in the second half en route to a 5-0 victory. All five tallies came in a span of 19 minutes, and the Badgers finished the match with a 24-5 shot advantage. Friday’s contest against the fifth-ranked Gamecocks will mark Wisconsin’s fifth match against a ranked foe in 2017. It will be the third game against a top-five foe for the Badgers, who notched a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Virginia on Aug. 31.

Sophomore forward Dani Rhodes leads Wisconsin in goals (11), assists (5) and points (27), while freshman attackers Lauren Rice (13) and Cameron Murtha (11) mark the two other players on the team with double-digit points this season. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Caitlyn Clem has appeared in net in all 21 matches for the Badgers, who sport a 0.78 goals against average on the year. Wisconsin’s 6.33 corner kicks per match rank 20th in Division I, and the team’s 6.86 shots on goal per game lead all Big Ten schools.

This season marks the 20th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Badgers. Wisconsin, which holds an all-time tournament mark of 16-18-2, has qualified for the event in each of the last two years.