Jayhawks women’s soccer team bows out of NCAA Sweet 16 with loss at South Carolina

Kansas’ second-ever foray into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament came to a scoreless halt Sunday in Columbia, South Carolina.

The 11-ranked and third-seeded Jayhawks (17-5-3), who’d previously reached this stage only once before— in 2003 — fell 2-0 to a seasoned Gamecocks squad at Stone Stadium. Host South Carolina advanced to the round of eight.

After a scoreless first half in a game matching two of the nation’s better defenses, the fifth-ranked and No. 2-seeded Gamecocks posted a pair of second-half goals to advance to a match against West Virginia or Washington State next weekend in Columbia, S.C.

The Gamecocks would advance to the College Cup final four for the second time in three years with another win.

The Big 12 champion Jayhawks hadn’t been scored on in over 400 minutes until Grace Fisk headed a Lauren Chang free kick to the back of the net with 27:20 left. The lead was padded 13 minutes later via Riley Tanner’s third goal of tournament.

Kansas, coming off Katie McClure’s hat trick in a 3-0 win over Xavier Friday, was the aggressor early. The Jayhawks fired four shots in the first seven minutes; KU kept pressure on South Carolina’s stout back line but couldn’t punch one in.

South Carolina (19-1-3) is now riding a seven-game win streak. The Gamecocks haven’t been scored on in over 650 minutes.

Andrew Ramspacher of The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.