Gamecocks Welcome Georgia State Saturday Night
Sept. 23, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (4-3-0) host Georgia State (5-3-0) at home Saturday night. The Gamecocks have won three-straight matches, including posting consecutive shutouts in their last two outings.
“Georgia State is a very good team” said Head Coach Mark Berson. “We play them often. We played them in the spring as well. They’re an experienced team, and they’ve got a lot of very good players that can play at a high level. We know that we need to be ready to go.”
Saturday night’s match will be the team’s Camper Reunion / Youth Soccer Night. All Gamecock soccer campers that wear their camp shirt or any youth soccer club members that wear their jerseys receive $1 admission as well as everyone in their group.
Carolina and Georgia State last met on September 30, 2014 in Columbia. The Gamecocks prevailed 2-1 over the Panthers. South Carolina leads the all-time series with GSU 10-0-0, including a perfect 8-0-0 record against the Panthers at home.
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
– South Carolina scored a season-high three goals in their latest win at Furman
– The win was the Gamecocks first over a ranked opponent this season, as Furman was slotted No. 18 by Soccer America
– Senior Kurtis Turner scored his first goal of the season in the first half vs. the Paladins; Turner ranks third on the team in shots with 17
– 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 (3G, 2A) and senior Kevin Walker (4G) are tied for the team lead in points with eight; Walker scored his second game-winning goal of the season vs. Georgia Southern
– Goalkeeper William Pyle is 4-1 and has 16 saves in five games, good for an .857 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 (23) and Mayr (23) 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 GEORGIA STATE
In 2015, Georgia State went 9-8-1 in and finished second in the Sun Belt Conference. They advanced to the championship match in the league tournament. The Panthers are fresh off a 3-2 overtime win on the road at UNC-Asheville on Wednesday. It was their first road win of the season. Hannes Burmeister leads the way for GSU with seven goals, which currently ranks tied for sixth nationally. Burmeister’s 1.17 goal per game average is tied for third in the nation. The Panther’s high-powered offensive attack ranks No. 25 in the country in scoring offense with a 2.13 goal per match average.
