Aug. 21, 2010
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The South Carolina men’s soccer team suffered a 1-0 loss at High Point in exhibition action Saturday. Seven different Gamecocks collected one shot in the contest.
“We come into the first scrimmage of the season each year knowing that it is very important to establish exactly where we are as a team and things that we need to work on,” South Carolina head coach Mark Berson said. “Tonight we looked at a lot of different players at a lot of different positions, and we learned a lot. Now we get to take this information and continue to work and improve as we work towards the College of Charleston game on Saturday night.”
High Point held an 11-7 upperhand in shots, including a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal. South Carolina earned six corner kicks, compared to three by the Panthers, while the Gamecocks were called offsides three times in the match. Seven different Gamecocks tallied one shot in the match, including senior forward Blake Brettschneider, junior midfielders Janny Rivera, Stephen Morrissey and Danny Cates, freshman midfielder Bradlee Baladez, senior defender Evan O’Dell and freshman forward Antoine Parris. Rivera and O’Dell each registered one shot on goal.
Sophomore forward Fejiro Okiomah led the Panther attack, registering three shots, including the game-winning goal in the 53rd minute. Freshman midfielder Adam Sewell also contributed two shots for the High Point attack, while senior forward Scott Rojo earned the assist on the game-winner.
Defensively for the Gamecocks veteran goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer and redshirt-freshman netminder Alex Long each played one half in net, with Maurer opening the contest in goal for Carolina. Both Long and Maurer collected two saves in the match. High Point goalkeeper Michael Chesler played the entire 90 minutes in net for the Panthers, also collecting two saves.
Brettschneider kicked off the Carolina attack with the opening shot of the match at the 7:33 mark in the contest. High Point countered with two shots by Okiomah, both saves by Maurer. Back and forth play continued as Baladez missed a shot high above the crossbar in the 20th minute and Morrissey missed just wide left of the goal nine minutes later. The final attack of the half belonged to the Panthers in the 44th minute, as Sewell’s header went wide to knot the score at 0-0 entering halftime.
High Point capitalized on a foul in the Gamecock defensive third of the field just over seven minutes into the second half of play. Okiomah scored on a rebound inside the Carolina six-yard box on an assist by Rojo for the 1-0 Panther advantage.
South Carolina continued its offensive pressure on the High Point defense the remainder of the half. Following a South Carolina corner kick in the 65th minute, O’Dell hit a shot on frame that was saved by Chesler to preserve the 1-0 High Point upperhand. Parris hit the final Gamecock shot of the match in the 87th minute, but the Panther defense held to secure the exhibition victory.
South Carolina continues exhibition action when it hosts the College of Charleston on Saturday, August 28 at Stone Stadium. Kickoff for the match is set for 7 p.m.
