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South Carolina women's soccer falls to Wake Forest in 1st round of NCAA Tournament

Griffin Goodwynby: Griffin Goodwyn1 hour agogriffin_goodwyn
Cuyler Zulauf
Cuyler Zulauf (Photo Courtesy of Gamecock Athletics)

The South Carolina women’s soccer team’s recent run of form has been out of the ordinary. The Gamecocks failed to win their last three regular-season matches and earned just one victory in their last six. Their stay in the SEC Tournament didn’t last long either, as Alabama upset them in the opening round.

Reaching the NCAA Tournament has remained a source for consistency for South Carolina over the years. Its streak of appearances in the competition has reached 13; in the last 19 years, the team has missed it only once. It’s also had notable success in the first round, having won eight of its previous nine matches at that stage.

The Gamecocks had an opportunity to make that nine wins in 10 attempts Friday night. Reaching that mark wasn’t meant to be, as No. 7 Wake Forest defeated an unseeded South Carolina team 2-1 at W. Dennie Spry Soccer Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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Of the two teams, Wake Forest was the one placing more pressure on its opponent’s net from the onset. The Gamecocks had some scoring chances on the other end of the pitch, most of which came from moments of individual brilliance from Katie Shea Collins. None were dangerous enough to find the back of the net, however.

But the Gamecocks would soon find themselves playing from behind. The Demon Deacons earned a corner kick in the 15th minute, and South Carolina’s defense had trouble clearing the in-swinging effort away. Both Amanda Patrick and Micah Bryant took swings at the ball, but the most either player could do was hit the ball off the post. Wake Forest’s Kylie Maxwell ran onto the ball as it ricocheted around the six-yard box and dispatched a shot from close range to make the score 1-0.

That goal served as a wakeup call for all 11 players donning garnet and black uniforms. Surely enough, momentum started flipping in their direction.

Collins, after receiving a long ball, headed it towards an onrushing Mackenzie Johnson in the 24th minute. The Demon Deacons required a lunging kick save from goalkeeper Valentina Amaral to keep Johnson from tying the game. She forced Amaral into making a one-on-one save four minutes later, but the assistant referee’s flag signaled an offsides offense on the freshman forward.

Both sides headed into the halftime on near-equal terms — except for the scoreline. The Gamecocks and Demon Deacons both had four shots and seven fouls apiece, with the latter having a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal. Wake Forest, though, could have doubled their advantage just before the break. Sierra Sythe delivered a near-perfect cross to the back post, but Brooke Miller couldn’t make contact with the ball.

Sammi Wiemann made no such mistake on another corner kick early in the second half. Maxwell’s first-time header directly from the kick landed near Maggie Taitano on the goal line. It then ricocheted off Taitano’s leg in the direction of Sammi Wiemann, who hadn’t scored a goal all year. But her first-time shot doubled the Demon Deacons’ advantage in the 61st minute.

Even though South Carolina was down, it surely wasn’t out — that is, if Cuyler Zulauf had anything to say about it. Just four minutes after Wiemann’s goal, Zulauf dribbled into space beyond the mid-field line. Around 40 yards away from Wake Forest’s goal, she unleashed a thundering shot. It curled above Amaral’s arms and into the top-left corner, bringing the score to 2-1.

The pace of the match grew increasingly frantic over the final 25 minutes as South Carolina searched for an equalizer. Outside of a sequence during which Wake Forest had five consecutive blocked shots, the Gamecocks out-shot the Demon Deacons 5-2 from the 64th minute onwards.

Wake Forest’s defense did bend, but it did not break during that time frame. That defensive solidity ultimately helped it move on to the next round and end the Gamecocks’ postseason journey in the round of 64.

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