Why South Carolina women's soccer is watching World Cup games in preseason film sessions

COLUMBIA — Before South Carolina women's soccer began preseason practice on Aug. 1, coach Shelley Smith had to give her players a reminder: Don't stay up for the FIFA World Cup games.

The United States women's national team played a group stage game against Portugal at 3 a.m. ET on the first day of the Gamecocks preseason, so they had to settle for catching up via highlights on social media when they woke up. However, Smith said the team will still get plenty of World Cup viewing in — just not from the fan perspective.

"We want to . . . show them in the video room, so that will be some of our film sessions this preseason to learn the things that these teams are doing well and the things they aren't," Smith said. "The things we work at, the World Cup stage is also working at. They're making some of the same mistakes and you're learning from the highest level, but you're also seeing the finishing is tremendous in some of these games and . . . the play fluidity some of these teams have, you can learn a lot from."

Fifth-year goalkeeper Heather Hinz said she always keys in on the keepers when she watches soccer and has long been a fan of Canada's Kailen Sheridan. There is also a Gamecocks connection on Team Canada: backup goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo played at South Carolina from 2011 to 2014.

"(Sheridan) is so fun to watch, and I love how much she likes to start the game herself," Hinz said. "Most goalkeepers are just there to shot stop, and I used to sit in that ... but seeing how she'll start the play and be an impact, it's awesome. The Panama goalkeeper has gotten like 5,000 shots on her, and they're losing but she's out there going for every single ball. Stuff like that as a goalkeeper is so cool to watch."

Senior forward Cat Barry can't watch a soccer game anymore without hearing the voices of Shelley Smith and assistant coach Jamie Smith in her head. She said the World Cup is a central topic of discussion among players during preseason meals, and the team often has games on in the weight room during early lifts.

"Me and my roommates will look at each other like, 'You know what Jamie would say in that situation?’ ” Barry said jokingly. ”You kind of just learn to think like that when you get into college and watch so much film that it kind of becomes second nature and you're always thinking about it through that lens."

USWNT: USWNT must make changes if this World Cup is to be exception rather than new norm

The USWNT was eliminated Sunday in the first knockout round by Sweden, marking the team's earliest exit in a World Cup. Several other traditional powerhouses, including reigning Olympic gold medalist Canada and two-time World Cup champion Germany, were eliminated in the group stage.

Though the USWNT's performance was disappointing for Shelley Smith, she said it's also exciting to see the growth of women's soccer worldwide. Elexa Bahr, who was with South Carolina from 2016 to 2019, plays for Colombia and has helped her team to the World Cup round of 16 for just the second time in its history.

"There's more talk than ever. You open the newspaper and find that it's (the) front headlines, and that's excellent to see," Smith said. "It's fascinating to see the highest quality of soccer being played around the world, and not just the (U.S.) women's team dominating like in the past. You're seeing challenges from around the world . . . It's been fun to watch."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Why South Carolina soccer is studying World Cup games during preseason