Emilee Hauser and the UA women’s soccer team advance in SEC tournament.
Two days after openly rooting for South Carolina, the University of Arkansas eliminated the Gamecocks from the SEC Soccer Tournament on Thursday.
The No. 6 Razorbacks avenged their only loss of the season with a 2-1 victory over the No. 10 Gamecocks in the tournament semifinals at the Orange Beach (Ala.) Sportsplex.
Arkansas (9-1) advanced to the SEC Tournament Championship Game for the fifth consecutive season. The Razorbacks will play Vanderbilt (7-4) for the title at 1 p.m. Central on Sunday.
Arkansas, which has won the past two SEC regular-season championships and is the top seed in Orange Beach, has never won a tournament title. It is the first program to play in the tournament championship game five consecutive seasons since Florida won six tournament titles in a row from 19962001.
“I think they just love [the SEC Tournament] and they’re built for the postseason,” Arkansas Coach Colby Hale said.
“It’s a tough team.”
To get to this year’s final round, the Razorbacks had to break through against the only
SEC team they have lost to the past two seasons. Arkansas had lost three one-goal decisions to South Carolina in the previous 13 months, including 1-0 in last year’s tournament final and 2-1 on Oct. 16 in Fayetteville. In all other SEC games, the Razorbacks have an 18-0-1 record since the start of the 2019 season. “South Carolina is always a good competition and it was somebody we really wanted to play because they were our only loss this season, and the past few times we’ve played them we’ve lost,” Arkansas senior midfielder Taylor Malham said. “Getting to play them tonight and getting to beat them was something we’ve been looking forward to this whole season.”
Arkansas felt it had left goals on the field when it lost to South Carolina a month ago. Its goals Thursday came from unlikely sources.
Freshmen Caroline Brooks (44th minute) and Emilee Hauser (53rd minute) scored their first career to put the Razorbacks ahead 2-0.
Brooks’ rebound from inside the box put Arkansas up 1-0 with 95 seconds remaining before halftime. Brooks took possession when Kaelee Van Gundy’s kick ricocheted off a South Carolina defender. With the goalkeeper defending the right post, Brooks fired it into the middle of the net from about 7 yards away.
It was the Razorbacks’ fifth second-chance goal of the tournament. Arkansas had four second-chance goals in its 4-3 victory over Auburn in the quarterfinal round Tuesday.
“After the first ball is hit in, we always talk about being ready for that second ball,” Malham said. “That’s exactly what we did.”
Hauser got a second-half start and extended Arkansas’ lead to 2-0 with a left-footed line drive from 20 yards away. Hauser, who is right footed, tucked her kick inside the left post, away from the outstretched arms of diving South Carolina goalkeeper Heather Hinz.
“We see her as a defender … but that was a great goal tonight,” Hale said.
Hauser and Brooks rotated Thursday. Combined they had played only 187 minutes entering the game.
“In a normal year you get some run-in games — preseason and nonconference — and the freshmen can get some confidence,” Hale said. “They’re very talented players, but it just takes awhile for freshmen to get played in sometimes. Now they’re playing great. They’ve earned their playing time, they’re playing great and they proved us right tonight.”
South Carolina (7-3) scored its only goal in the 66th minute when Ranya Senhaji caught Arkansas goalkeeper Taylor Beitz out of position.