Oct. 27, 2012
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – South Carolina men’s soccer dropped a 3-1 decision at No. 13 Wake Forest Saturday night at Dennie Spry Stadium. The Gamecocks took an early lead in the match on an unassisted goal from senior Mike Mangotic, but the Demon Deacon offense scored the equalizer and go-ahead strike before halftime.
Wake Forest out-shot the Gamecocks 21-12 and took eight corners. South Carolina red-shirt freshman goalkeeper Robert Beebe picked up three saves on the Demon Deacons’ six shots on goal. Mangotic was one of four Gamecocks to take two shots in the match.
After matching the Demon Deacons shot for shot through the first 26 minutes, the Gamecocks got on the board with a solid strike from Mangotic, who teed it up from the right side. It was the defender’s first goal of the season. Wake Forest leveled the match 1-1 just over six minutes later, capitalizing on a pair of corner kicks. The serve on the second did not directly lead to the goal, but Luca Gimenez found the back of the net seconds later for his sixth strike of the season.
The Gamecock defense deflected a pair of shots as the Demon Deacon offense pressed forward. Wake Forest’s Collin Martin took advantage of a South Carolina foul to send a through ball to Sean Okoli, who netted the shot from the right side in the 38th minute.
Wake Forest was aggressive early in the second half, getting four shots off in the first eight minutes. The Gamecock defense was staunch, but the resulting six corner kicks had South Carolina on its heels. In the 58th minute, Martin sent a cross into the box that found Michael Gamble on the left side. The goal made it a 3-1 game with 32 minutes to play.
With their backs against the wall, the Gamecocks got aggressive on offense only to have a pair of offside calls stymie the effort. The teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the contest, but South Carolina could not get past Wake Forest’s last line of defense.
South Carolina closes out its regular season on Sun., Nov. 4, at Kentucky in the Conference USA finale for both teams. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (ET), and the game will be televised on Fox Sports South. Live stats will be available on GamecocksOnline.com.
