McCaskill's hot streak keeping Gamecocks undefeated
When Savannah McCaskill and the rest of the women’s soccer team walked off the field for the last time last season, it wasn’t the result they were looking for at all. A year removed from a trip to the Elite Eight, the Gamecocks were bounced in the first round by UNC-Wilmington.
After that game, it was a reality check for South Carolina and McCaskill.
“We’re not a team that’s expected to get out in the first round,” the junior forward said. “For that to happen it was like, ‘Oh, darn. Let’s go back to the drawing board.’ I think that’s why we came back with so much vengeance that we didn’t want to have that happen again.”
That 2-0 loss to the Seahawks was significant for the Gamecocks for two reasons: it marked the end of the Gamecocks’ season, but it’s also the last time they lost in a competitive match.
Since then, they are undefeated (6-0-1) with the only draw coming in the first game against Oklahoma. McCaskill is a large part of why the Gamecocks are riding high on a six-game winning streak.
She’s first on the team with eight goals, four times as many as the next-highest goal scorer. She also leads the team in assists, and is averaging either a goal or assist every 45.5 minutes she plays.
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A self-proclaimed creative player, she laughed saying scoring’s the “fun part,” but it’s her teammates and the team chemistry that vaults the Gamecocks to success this season.
“Not having lost yet is awesome, and I think that everyone has this confidence about them,” she said. “When you have a team that’s willing to do whatever it takes and has this swagger about you when you go out there that you’re going to win, there’s no doubt we’re going to win.”
She’s is currently plastered over the school record books with still a season and a half left to play. She’s eighth all-time in assists with 14, 10th all-time in points with 44 and set sophomore records for assists (nine) and game-winning assists (three).
But her so far illustrious career in Columbia almost didn’t happen. Although she grew up in Chapin, roughly 25 miles from Stone Stadium, she was raised a Clemson fan.
It wasn’t until she started looking at colleges when she was 14 that South Carolina jumped out at her. That and her relationship with head coach Shelley Smith who coached one of her youth soccer teams.
“I just kept coming back here,” McCaskill said. “Every time I would look at a different school I’d say, ‘Eh, it’s not as good as South Carolina.’ It’s just this pull back here.”
Now, the homegrown girl has a chance to rebound from an early exit and get back to an Elite Eight or even further, she hopes.
McCaskill said her and the team’s goal is SEC regular season and conference titles and to make it back to where it was two years ago. The Gamecocks still have 11 games left this season, but they’re off to a good enough start McCaskill thinks they can continue to build momentum throughout the season.
And on a senior-laden team, she’s really hoping to reach those goals right now.
“I think this team has a lot of potential and this is the year to do it,” she said. “Our seniors, I think there are 11 of them, so it’s very heavy this year. So we’re really playing for them.”
Also see: Full breakdown of remaining 10 Gamecock opponents
The Gamecocks put their undefeated record on the line Thursday against UNC Greensboro before getting into the rest of the SEC schedule. For McCaskill, she takes her impeccable form onto the next opponents trying to keep it up.
And if she does, she could springboard into Gamecock legend as one of the best players to play in Columbia.
“Just to be talked about in the same regards with the players who’ve played here—there’s Sabrina (D’Angelo), there’s Blakeley Mattern, Liz Sinclair, Kayla Grimsley—all those players are phenomenal,” she said. “Just to be talked about in the same sentence is kind of cool.”
