Carolina Unable To Erase Early Deficit In Loss To Coastal Carolina
Sept. 30, 2017
Men’s Soccer vs. Coastal Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina was unable to overcome a halftime deficit Tuesday night, as it fell to Coastal Carolina (4-5-0, 0-1-1 Sun Belt), 2-0 at Stone Stadium. The Chanticleers scored twice in the first 21 minutes of the match en route the shutout victory.
Coastal scored in the 12th minute when a shot by Louvaris Konstantinos was propelled upwards off a defender’s back over the outstretched fingertips of goalkeeper William Pyle. The shot went off the bar and into the net as the Chanticleers took an early 1-0 lead.
In the 21st minute, Coastal scored again when Darius Strambler ripped a shot from inside the 18 on the near sideline close to the out of bounds boundary. The shot deflected off a Carolina defender for an own goal far post.
From there, the Gamecocks did a solid job keeping the ball in their attacking half of the field for the remainder of the first 45 minutes, but they were unable to breakthrough the Chanticleer defense with any quality chances. Coastal led 2-0 at the break, out-shooting the home team 6-4 with a 3-0 advantage in shots on goal. Neither team had a corner kick in the first half.
Carolina had a good chance right out of the half, earning the game’s first corner in the 48th minute. Freshman Petter Soelberg was able to get a shot off but it was blocked by a defender. Junior Trygve Ellingstad had another chance as he booted a shot on goal from the wide side of the field in the 52nd minute, but it was scooped up by keeper Braulio Linares-Ortiz for his first save of the match.
The Gamecock attack kept the pressure on and had two excellent opportunities in the next 10 minutes to swing the momentum and get on the scoreboard. In the 52nd minute, freshman Justin Sukow had a quality touch on a ball played just in front of the six. Linares-Ortiz made a brilliant diving stop to keep the score 2-0 in favor of Coastal.
In the 61st minute, Ellingstad got loose and unloaded a left-footed dart from just outside the six on the wide side of the field. Linares-Ortiz again made an excellent save as he was able to get a piece of the shot with his leg to send it wide. Sophomore striker Luca Mayr had another quality opportunity down the stretch in the 84th minute for Carolina. He took a chance at the net from 30 yards out on a free kick but Linares-Ortiz was there again for the Chanticleers as they went on to win 2-0.
QUOTABLE
“We weren’t sharp. To be honest, their goals were a little bit fortunate. One was an own goal, which was really tough – was our second this year. The second one was a deflection I don’t think Will could have done anything about. On the flip side we had a number of chances. I thought their keeper made two or three brilliant saves and we need to have one of those go in for us to get back in it. I don’t think we were at our best tonight, but then again, I thought Coastal was part of the reason.” — South Carolina men’s soccer head coach Mark Berson
GAMECHANGER
Coastal Carolina keeper Braulio Linares-Ortiz made two outstanding saves in the early portions of the second half to preserve his team’s 2-0 lead.
KEY STAT
South Carolina, who controlled possession for long stretches in the second half, outshot the Chanticleers 8-7 and held a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks the final 45 minutes.
NOTABLE
- Tuesday night marked the first time the Gamecocks have been shutout in the 2017 season.
- 30 former players were in attendance pregame with their families to celebrate the 40th anniversary of South Carolina soccer.
- The former Carolina student-athletes presented head coach Mark Berson with a wooden chest of hand-written thank you notes from players near and far throughout the 40-year history of the program.
UP NEXT
The Gamecocks remain at home as they welcome in Virginia Tech (6-4-0, 2-2-0 ACC) for a nonconference matchup next Tuesday. The Hokies, who were ranked 17th in the preseason coaches poll, recently upset No. 1 Notre Dame on Friday, September 22, by a score of 2-1 in Blacksburg.
