USC women’s soccer SEC championship win was awesome and a reminder of living up to equality
The single goal that on Sunday won the University of South Carolina women’s soccer team the Southeastern Conference Championship was awesome.
A save that Gamecock goalkeeper Heather Hinz made with a little more than a minute to go was awesome.
With the conference title in hand, it goes without saying that Coach Shelley Smith and her team are awesome.
Now the team is headed for the NCAA tournament, as reported by The State’s Jeremiah Holloway, where they will hopefully do awesome. All indications are that they will.
The Gamecocks’ goal was a thing of beauty — a long throw from midfielder Claire Griffiths into the box, where forward Catherine Barry made a backwards header pass as midfielder Brianna Behm gave the ball a deft touch to get it around the closing goalkeeper.
To save the Gamecocks from going to overtime, Hinz tracked a overhead pass and and got into position despite her own teammate crossing in front. A Gamecock came in with a slide to knock the ball away.
The Gamecocks’ celebration after the whistle blew was cathartic and jubilant. You could feel their excitement.
The victory belongs to the players and coaches, but USC deserves some praise for supporting women’s sports in a way that helps create these moments. With the soccer team’s win on Sunday and the unfurling of the women’s basketball team’s newest national championship banner at Colonial Life Arena a day later, USC has proved that it’s a premier school for women’s sports, where these athletes can receive the backing they need to further their athletic goals.
The school might have blundered a celebration of women in sports earlier this year during a USC football game, but the women’s soccer championship and the women’s basketball banner drop show the investment and care that the school has for women’s sports.
Certain rights and privileges in the United States came through hard-fought battles. One of those is the ability for women to play the sports they love.
The women’s soccer championship is a reminder of the fight for women’s sports and all that past and present generations of these athletes have gone through to reach the heights of their ambitions.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX, which, in part, ensures schools must have women’s sports programs and outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex in schools.
Title IX made it possible for USC to have moments like the artful goal and amazing save that sparked the soccer team’s victory celebration and the celebration in the hearts of all honest Gamecock sports fans.
The celebration on the field and in our hearts rises above joy for a team’s victory. We’re also celebrating one of the highest tenets of the United States — equality.
Inequities still exist and affect people’s lives, and the U.S., South Carolina and even USC don’t always live up to the ideals of equality. But the women’s soccer team shows us that we can get there if we keeping pushing. And that’s awesome.