NASHVILLE, Tenn. — South Carolina’s long unbeaten stretch ran into the best team in the country on Sunday. Top-ranked Vanderbilt beat the No. 10 Gamecocks 3-0 in the regular-season finale, handing South Carolina its first SEC loss of the year and snapping a 14-game run without a defeat.
The Commodores struck first from the penalty spot. Courtney Jones converted in the 13th minute for her seventh goal of the season, and the 1-0 margin held for most of the afternoon. Vanderbilt goalkeeper Alexa Gianoplus kept it that way with a key stop in the 60th minute.
The game turned on two corner kicks in a span of 92 seconds late in the second half. Margo Matula finished the first with a right-footed shot in the 73rd minute, and Lydia Ungashick headed in the second for her third goal of the year.
South Carolina’s fifth-year keeper Christina Tsaousis made five saves, four of them before halftime. The Gamecocks finish the regular season 12-2-3 overall and 6-1-3 in conference play.
Vanderbilt (16-0-1, 9-0-1) became just the second program since SEC soccer began in 1993 to get through a full regular season without a loss. The other was South Carolina in 2016.
Both teams now head to Pensacola, Florida, for the SEC Tournament. South Carolina earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye and will play the Oklahoma-Georgia winner in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. It is the Gamecocks’ 25th trip to the tournament and their 21st season in a row playing in it.
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