Gamecocks beat Lipscomb, 2-1, for first win of 2018
Tucker Monheimer scored the game-winner in the 76th minute
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina (1-1-0) netted its first win of the season Monday night at Stone Stadium, 2-1, over Lipscomb (1-1-0). The Bisons, an NCAA Tournament team in 2017, took a 1-0 lead late in the first half. The Gamecocks answered with goals from sophomore Justin Sukow (42′) and the eventual game-winner by junior Tucker Monheimer (76′).
“I give our guys a lot of credit,” said head coach Mark Berson. “They fought to come from behind. That was a real positive on the night. That’s a quality we want to have in our team. Again, it’s early in the year, so we played a number of young players. We’re still trying to find some continuity in what we’re doing. That’ll just have to come over time. The effort was great. I thought we created a lot of great chances tonight.”
Carolina, who opened the season last Friday (Aug. 24) against No. 13 Georgetown, started the match slow. Quality chances lacked on both sides for much of the first 45 minutes, but the Gamecocks were able to regroup and dominate the run of play in their attacking half the final 10 minutes of half one. Carolina had a stretch of five shots, four of them on goal, before the half. Junior Luca Mayr, who finished with a team-high three shots on goal, beat his man and ripped one on target in the 42nd minute. Lipscomb’s Chris Zappia, the ASUN Defensive Player of the Week, stopped the aggressive shot but couldn’t gather the ball and Sukow knocked in the rebound from close-range.
It marked the sixth career goal for the sophomore from San Antonio, Texas. Sukow earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors in 2017 after recording 12 points (5G, 2A) and leading the team with three game-winners.
Carolina picked up right where it left off out of the break as senior forward Bjorn Gudjonsson threaded the needle with a pinpoint pass to sophomore striker Benjamin Gilligan. The Aiken, S.C., native scored far post but the referee’s flag was raised as Gilligan was just offsides.
Senior Ian McGrane tallied his first career win in his second start. The Kingston, Pa., native finished with two saves, the biggest coming on a full-extension stop that was a ripped from just outside the 18 near post in the 59th minute. McGrane has 10 saves through two games, including seven in his first career start against the Hoyas on Aug. 24.
Against Georgetown, Carolina had 14 shots but just two were on target. The Gamecocks flipped the script Monday evening with 17 shots and 10 shots on goal.
Carolina welcomes No. 11 Clemson to Stone Stadium on Friday night (Aug. 31). Kickoff for the annual Palmetto Series matchup with the two in-state rivals is set for 7 p.m. ET. The last time the Tigers came to town, the Gamecocks broke the all-time single-game Stone Stadium attendance record when 6,892 fans attended the match.
