USC women’s soccer team enters SEC tournament with confidence

The South Carolina women’s soccer team had dropped one game all season before three straight losses and a tie in mid-October. A team meeting helped the Gamecocks get back on track, and USC is hoping to carry the momentum from a dominant win over Tennessee into the SEC tournament.

USC faces Auburn in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. The Gamecocks beat Auburn 2-0 earlier this year.

USC opened the season 12-1-1, including 5-0-1 in the SEC, before falling to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Florida in consecutive games, with the last two losses coming in overtime and double overtime.

After tying LSU, marking four straight games without a win, USC knew something had to change. USC responded with, arguably, its best performance of the season in a 4-0 win against Tennessee.

“We had a meeting about it. We had a big dinner and we as a team agreed to find ourselves and reset our goals and put all of our focus to the future,” senior forward Raina Johnson said. “I think we all got back on the same page, and I think that’s really what helped us come out as strong as we did.”

South Carolina was in prime position to win the SEC title before struggling down the stretch. The Gamecocks see the SEC tournament as a chance for redemption, as well as a chance to improve their NCAA tournament resume.

“We know that it can only help us. We’ve done enough to be an NCAA team. We’re playing to win a championship,” USC coach Shelley Smith said. “We’re playing to get a higher seed. Playing Auburn is a great opportunity to continue to build the resume that we’ve built so far.”

If USC knocks off Auburn, it will likely face a Florida squad that won the regular season SEC title. The Gators beat USC in Gainesville 2-1 in double overtime earlier this year.

The game-winning goal was scored in the final seconds of the game.

“We played them so well at their place. Losing with one second on the clock was devastating, but we’d love to have the revenge there and have the chance to get the game back,” Smith said.

Smith said her team is confident entering the tournament after scoring four goals against Tennessee.

“That was definitely important. We had some very disappointing results. Our performances have been good. The results we got weren’t indicative of the play we were giving,” she said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 10:18 PM with the headline "USC women’s soccer team enters SEC tournament with confidence."