South Carolina Wins SEC Title

Friday night the USC women’s soccer team defeated five-time defending champion Florida Gators in Gainesville by a score of 2-1. The victory clinched the first outright SEC Championship in South Carolina history. The 22nd ranked Lady Gamecocks (15-5-0, 9-2-0 SEC) earned their first-ever victory in Gainesville by jumping out to an early lead and handing the Gators only the fifth home loss in program history.

These two teams have battled for SEC supremacy the last three years with Florida gaining the upper hand. The win was the eighth consecutive SEC victory, a program record, and pushed USC to eclipse a new season win total, nine, in SEC Conference play.

South Carolina ended a 14-year scoring drought early in the contest as Kayla Grimsley scored a goal less than three minutes into the match, and the Gamecocks never looked back. The last time Carolina scored a goal in Gainesville was 1997.

South Carolina travels to Orange Beach, Alabama next week to compete in the SEC tournament. USC plays Alabama in the opening round on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Congratulations to Head Women’s Soccer Coach Shelley Smith, all of the assistants and program personnel and especially all the team members who contributed in making this season a championship season!

Blogger Note: Special thanks to staff writers of The State newspaper for much of the content in this story.

Go Gamecocks!