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Sept. 30, 2014

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – A furious comeback bid yielded a 2-1 triumph for South Carolina (5-4) on Tuesday night at Stone Stadium over Georgia State (4-4), snapping the Panthers’ four-game winning streak.

With the victory, South Carolina head coach Mark Berson earned his 467th of his career, snapping a tie with former SMU head coach Schellas Hyndman to stand alone in sixth place on the NCAA Division I coaching wins charts and 17th on the all-divisions listings.

The Gamecocks took the only two chances in the overtime period, the first a laser of a shot from sophomore Kurtis Turner that Panther goalkeeper CJ Cochran redirected from the goal with a diving stop, but the ensuing corner kick would wrap it. Sophomore Eli Dent sent in the corner kick to the six-yard box, where senior Jeff Addai, free from a mark, snapped the header into the net for the game winner.

This came after South Carolina fired six shots in the final five minutes of regulation, the last leveling the match. Sophomore Hamilton Carlin controlled the rebound from redshirt freshman Mikkel Knudsen’s shot from just outside the six and sent it into the nets for his first career goal.

Georgia State took the lead in the 62nd minute when Aaron Jones scored on a free kick from 20 yards away, tucking it in the top left corner of the goal.

In the first half, the Gamecocks got a penalty kick after junior Jeffrey Torda went down on a hard foul 16 yards from goal. Cochran made a diving save on Knudsen’s chance from the spot. The Gamecocks took three corner kicks in the next 90 seconds, but no shots came from those.

The last five minutes of the first half saw Georgia State take four of their seven shots, two blocked by the Gamecocks and two more that missed left. The last came off the foot of Niklas Kivinen, curving left a little too much for Gamecock senior goalkeeper Robert Beebe to need to grab it.

South Carolina nearly took the lead in the 55th when Knudsen had a breakaway one-on-one chance with Cochran, but his touch around the goalkeeper went too far away, rolling over the goal line before he could shoot. His assist on Carlin’s goal is his second of the year.

Game Changer:
In the 79th and 86th minute, senior Braeden Troyer stepped forward and had chances at goal, the first hitting the crossbar and the second blocked. In that frame, the Gamecocks seized momentum and drove to the win.

Key Stat:
Nine of South Carolina’s shots came in the final 15 minutes of action, 12 of regulation and the three of overtime.

Notables:

  • The Gamecocks held advantages in shots (16-13), shots on goal (5-1) and corner kicks (9-4).
  • Gamecock senior goalkeeper Robert Beebe did not make a save in his return to the pitch, his first contest since the Coastal Carolina match on Sept. 10, 2013.
  • Knudsen had five shots on the night, with Carlin adding four more.
  • The Gamecock defense gave up only one shot on goal in the victory, the free kick that Jones scored.
  • Senior defender Mahamoudou Kaba came out of the game with 10 minutes to play, the first action he’d missed this season.
  • Sophomore midfielder Koty Millard missed the start due to an illness but came off the bench to play 18 minutes.

Quotable:
South Carolina Head Coach Mark Berson
It was a very good win on a number of different levels. We had a lot of guys played with injury. For all of our guys, it was a gut check, and I was really proud of that. The game didn’t exactly go our way. We missed the penalty (kick). We had a number of good chances that we didn’t hit. We hit the bar, we hit the post, and yet we didn’t stall out. The guys kept pushing. To come back to get that goal late to equalize, I was really proud.

Tweet of the Match:

Up Next:
The Gamecocks close their second four-match homestand of the season on Saturday night in their second Conference USA outing, hosting No. 10/16 Charlotte at 7 p.m. at Stone Stadium.

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