The Samford Bulldogs soccer team (13-4-5) fell to the South Carolina Gamecocks (17-1-3) in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament on Saturday.
Samford earned a bid to the tournament after beating Furman in the Southern Conference championship. The Bulldogs made their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in three years.
The Bulldogs held tight through 40 minutes of play against the recently crowned SEC champions. In the 41st minute, Samantha Chang finally broke through with a goal for South Carolina. The Gamecocks put up two more goals, coming from Luciana Zullo (55’) and Riley Tanner (81’).
When the final whistle blew, the game finished 3-0 in favor of South Carolina.
Although this loss was the final game of the 2019 season for the Bulldogs, many achievements were added to Head Coach Todd Yelton’s resumé.
The Bulldogs won both the regular season SoCon Championship and the SoCon Tournament. Yelton, who is in his 16th season of coaching at Samford, has not won both in the same season since 2016.
The Bulldogs did not lose a single home game this season and only lost once in SoCon play. The team also tied LSU, UAB and Auburn in the regular season.
The leading scorer for the Bulldogs this season was Taylor Yount, who finished the regular season with ten goals. Other notable players include Forward Kyla Reynolds and Goalkeeper Morgan McAslan. Reynolds finished with nine goals and two assists. McAslan recorded 90 saves throughout the year.
