Louisville women beat South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Junior Jennifer Jones scored on a second half penalty kick to lead the Louisville women’s soccer team to an impressive 1-0 road win over No. 13 South Carolina on Friday night at the Gamecock Courtyard Cup.

After the two teams played a scoreless first half, Louisville’s game-winning opportunity came in the 64th minute of play when freshman Julie Casselman (Gatineau, Ont./Des Sources HS) was pushed to the ground by a South Carolina defender after controlling the ball inside the 18-yard box. Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes then selected Jones (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) for the penalty kick, which she sent past South Carolina goalkeeper Mollie Patton for her first goal of the season and the third of her career.

“We’re very happy with the result tonight,” said Ferguson-Dayes. “We showed great determination against a very good South Carolina team. We did a nice job of keeping possession of the ball and we were tough defensively. Jennifer Jones showed tremendous composure and leadership scoring the PK.”

The lone goal was enough for the Cardinals’ defense, which allowed only one shot by the Gamecocks during the final 26 minutes of action. Louisville’s back line of senior Meredith Tolley (Louisville, Ky./Male HS), sophomore Courtney Holtz (Peoria, Ill./Peoria HS) and freshmen Rachel Melhado (Brampton, Ont./Turner Fenton SS) and Jordan Pawlik (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger HS) had a terrific night, while sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Vancil (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North HS) finished with four saves, including a key save late in the game to close out her fourth career shutout.
 
With their first win over a ranked foe since a 1-0 victory at No. 15 Purdue on Sept. 2, 2007, the Cardinals improved to 2-0 overall for the first time since the 2007 squad opened 4-0 en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance. South Carolina, which advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of last year’s NCAA Tournament, dropped to 2-1 with Friday’s loss. The Gamecocks entered the weekend ranked 13th in the NSCAA Top 25 and 15th in the Soccer Times Top 25.

South Carolina finished with a 16-9 advantage on shots, though Louisville finished with a 5-4 edge in shots on-goal. The Gamecocks finished with a 7-1 advantage on corner kicks, but were whistled for 11 fouls, two more than the Cardinals’ total of nine.

Up next, Louisville will play Bucknell, a 1-0 winner over Ohio on Friday afternoon, in the championship game of the 2010 Gamecock Courtyard Cup on Sunday at noon ET in Columbia, S.C.