Georgia women’s soccer looks to rebound at Florida

After earning a thrilling 3-2 victory on the road at Texas A&M to open Southeastern Conference play, Georgia’s women’s soccer team returned home to the Turner Soccer Complex Thursday night to face No. 8-ranked South Carolina.

The Gamecocks have been a powerhouse over the last decade, winning four SEC championships and a national championship in 2017. The Gamecocks squad suffered an uncharacteristic 2-0 loss in their SEC opener versus then No. 11-ranked Alabama. In order to deal with the Gamecocks, the Bulldogs would ordinarily rely on reigning SEC co-offensive player of the week, Dasia Torbert, but unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Torbert was out of Thursday’s game after suffering an injury late in the game versus Texas A&M.

Freshman midfielder Millie Filson filled in for Torbert. The series between the Gamecocks and the Bulldogs has been hotly contested throughout the years with five out of the last six meetings decided by a goal or less versus the Gamecocks. Thursday night would be no different as Georgia would fall 1-0 to the Gamecocks. In program history, the Bulldogs are now 8-51-2 versus top 10 teams. The last victory coming in 2009 versus South Carolina.

Fourteen minutes into the game, Georgia had a host of scoring opportunities, but the Gamecock defense swarmed the Bulldogs to stop their attack. With 11 minutes to go in the first half, Georgia goalkeeper Liz Beardsley recorded her third save of the night to keep the game scoreless. In the last three minutes of the first half, Georgia had a golden opportunity to score on a free kick by senior Abby Boyan, the ball would bounce off the side of the goal as the contest would remain scoreless at the half. In the 56th minute, an apparent South Carolina goal was disallowed by a handball call off a save from Beardsley.

Minutes later, Bulldog defender Ellie Gilbert made a spectacular play tracking down the South Carolina attack streaking down the middle of the field. The Gamecocks would get another scoring opportunity on a free kick from 35 yards out in the 80th minute. The Gamecocks would finally break the scoreless tie and take a 1-0 lead with a goal from Payton Patrick in the 82nd minute. The Bulldogs were unable to penetrate the gamecocks stifling defense as Georgia’s six match winning streak was snapped. The Bulldogs had their chances, but failed to capitalize. Georgia head coach Keidane McAlpine spoke postgame on the Bulldogs’ missed opportunities.

McAlpine said “it did come down to moments. Unfortunately, as we are a new team, we are still getting used to what I want and what the staff wants out of every moment. It’s just going to be experience, but we’ve got more to go to win this type of game when it’s that tough the margins are so small. We had our moments. We didn’t take ours, and they took their one. That was the game.”

The Bulldogs will look to rebound with a victory on the road in Gainesville at noon on Sunday. The Bulldogs clash with the Gators can be seen nationally on ESPNU.

Kayla Renie