Gamecock women’s soccer falls to Georgia 1-0 in season opener

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s soccer (0-1-0, 0-1-0 SEC) fell to Georgia (1-0-0, 1-0-0 SEC) 1-0 on the road on Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs scored early in the second half and held on to defeat the Gamecocks for the first time since 2014.

“Overall, we had some good things happen today, but there were a couple of things we did not do well enough and that left us exposed,” head coach Shelley Smith said. “Credit to Georgia for capitalizing on their chance and getting the goal they needed. We had chances that I thought we should have done a better job with, but when you don’t put those away sometimes you are going to end up on the losing end of things.”

Georgia scored the match’s lone goal in the 63rd minute when Abby Boyan snuck the ball past freshman goalkeeper Taylor Fox. Despite giving up the goal, the Gamecocks have only given up multiple goals one time in the last 37 matches dating back to 2018.

Carolina had opportunities during the match, Catherine Barry made her presence known during her first appearance in the Garnet and Black, finishing with a pair of shots. Riley Tanner came off the bench and provided a spark for the Gamecocks, generating multiple opportunities that just did not find the back of the net for Carolina.

In the second half, senior captain Lauren Chang had multiple free kick chances at the edge of the box, with her first attempt going over the goal and the other nearly resulting in a goal after Anna Patten sent a heading pass across the box to the far post.

The loss for Carolina snaps a season-opening winning streak of six, dating back to 2013. It also snaps a 12-match unbeaten streak and moves head coach Shelley Smith‘s opening day record to 12-4-4.

Carolina will shift its focus on Missouri back at Stone Stadium. The Gamecocks will host the Tigers on Sept. 27, at 4 p.m. on SEC Network.