South Carolina Travels To No. 18 Furman Tuesday
Sept. 19, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (3-3-0) heads to Greenville, S.C. Tuesday evening for an instate matchup with No. 18 Furman (4-1-1). The Gamecocks will be playing their second consecutive road match after downing FAU 1-0 in Boca Raton, Fla. Saturday night.
“It’ll be a great game,” said Head Coach Mark Berson. “They have a good team, they’re very well coached and it’s a rematch of last year’s NCAA first round game, which was as close as it could be. We know it’ll be a really tough game especially up at their place.”
Furman has deemed Tuesday night as its Ovarian Cancer Awareness Match. They will recognize and celebrate several cancer survivors during the game and information will be available about Ovarian Cancer at a table on the Stone Soccer Stadium concourse. The Paladins will wear teal wristbands to show their support for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and present South Carolina’s squad with wristbands before kickoff. All in attendance are encouraged to wear teal.
Last season, the Gamecocks beat the Paladins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 draw. Carolina was led in the match, which was played in Columbia, by senior Danny Deakin and goalkeeper William Pyle. Deakin scored the lone goal for Carolina in the 58th minute. Pyle made six saves in regulation to help send the match to overtime. Senior Kurtis Turner would score the eventual game-winner in the penalty kick showdown.
Furman is led by Gamecock soccer legend Doug Allison, who played and coached at South Carolina under Berson. As a player, Allison was a four-year starter, earning first team All-America honors as a senior in 1987. He’s the program’s all-time leader in points with 158 (63G, 32A). He helped lead the Gamecocks to a 67-14-6 record, including three NCAA tournament appearances, as a player.
As a coach, Allison served as an assistant under Berson for four seasons (1991-94). He helped lead Carolina to a 59-18-7 record and three NCAA tournaments, including a national runner-up finish in 1993.
Another Gamecock legend is also on Furman’s staff in goalkeeper coach Charlie Ardnt. As a player at South Carolina, Arndt fashioned one of the finest careers of any goalkeeper in Gamecock soccer history, starting for three seasons and recording 13 shutouts and a 0.58 career goals against average. He helped Carolina to a 47-11-7 record and consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 1986, `87 and `88. As a senior, he was a consensus All-America selection, and was also named NCAA Goalkeeper-of-the-Year and GTE Academic All-America.
South Carolina will continue to wear teal warmup shirts for the match to help raise awareness for ovarian cancer (read below for more details).
GAMECOCK QUICK HITS
– Mark Berson is the winningest active NCAA Division I coach, 5th on the all-time NCAA D1 list
– Berson is tied for the most NCAA Tournament appearances among active DI coaches with 21
– The 2015 Gamecocks advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament
– The Gamecocks return 17 letterwinners from last season’s squad
– South Carolina returns eight starters from last season’s squad
– Senior midfielder Danny Deakin leads the Carolina offense after scoring 11 goals last season
– Deakin and fellow senior Koty Millard were both named to the 2016 Preseason All-C-USA Team
– Deakin was named to the CollegeSoccerNews 2016 Preseason All-America Second Team
-The Gamecocks posted a season-high 27 shots and 11 shots on goal in their win vs. Georgia Southern
– Deakin led the team with seven shots in the match (2 SOG) and freshman Luca Mayr was second on the team with six shots, including five shots on goal, an individual season-high for Carolina
-Deakin (2G, 2A) and senior Kevin Walker (3G) are tied for the team lead in points with six (3G); Walker scored his second game-winning goal of the season vs. Georgia Southern
– Goalkeeper William Pyle is 3-1 and has 15 saves in four games, good for an .833 save percentage
– South Carolina picked up its first win of the season on Sept. 4 after beating UCF, 2-1
– Mayr scored his first career goal as a Gamecock vs. Mercer on Aug. 30
– Deakin (21) and Mayr (21) are tied for the team lead in shots
RECORD CROWD WATCHES SOUTH CAROLINA SEASON OPENER VS. CLEMSON
A new Stone Stadium attendance record was set last Friday in the 2016 season opener vs. Clemson, as 6,892 fans attended the matchup. The mark broke the previous record of 6,157, also set vs. Clemson on Sept. 3, 2010.
OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
The Carolina men’s soccer team is supporting Ovarian Cancer Awareness month in September by wearing teal warmup jerseys for their matches. In addition to the teal warm up jerseys and shoelaces for the South Carolina team, the Gamecock coaching staff and support staff will be wearing teal polo shirts, while the goalkeeper will be donning a teal jersey.
SCOUTING FURMAN
The Paladins are currently ranked No. 18 nationally by Soccer America and boast wins over two ranked opponents in No. 16 Kentucky and No. 23 FIU. Josiah Baker and Lewis Hawke lead Furman offensively, as Baker leads the team in points with seven (2G, 3A) and Hawke ranks second with five (2G, 1A). Goalkeeper Jonathan Smith was recently named the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week after posting consecutive shutouts in the net. The Columbia, S.C., native had four saves vs. Presbyterian and five saves vs. Kentucky.
