Nov. 5, 2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Gamecock men’s soccer team (9-5-2, 4-2-1 Conference USA) concludes the regular season with a contest at Kentucky (6-7-4, 3-2-2 C-USA) on Sunday. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

South Carolina is currently ranked third with 13 points in the Conference USA standings, while the Wildcats enter Sunday’s match in fifth place with 11 points. Both teams have secured a spot in the C-USA Tournament next week. South Carolina can finish as high as second in the conference race with a victory over Kentucky and a UCF loss (the Knights travel to face Tulsa in their regular-season finale on Friday evening).

The Gamecocks are led by a veteran senior class, a class that played an important role in a 3-0 win over Memphis on Senior Day last Sunday at Stone Stadium. Senior midfielder Mark Wiltse, who was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week on Tuesday, scored his first-career game winner in the contest, while freshman midfielder Chipper Root and junior defender Danny Cates also scored for Carolina.

Senior forward Blake Brettschneider paces the squad with 16 points on four goals and a team-best eight assists on the year. The eight assists are a career-high for a single season for the Lilburn, Ga., native, as his previous high mark was four assists during his freshman campaign in 2007. Freshman midfielder Bradlee Baladez and senior defender Will Traynor both have scored five goals on the year, which leads the Gamecocks, with Baladez netting four game-winners.

Senior netminder Jimmy Maurer has seven shutouts this season with 1463 minutes in net for the Gamecocks. Redshirt-freshman Alex Long made his first-career appearance against Memphis last weekend. He played a flawless 17 minutes in goal to help the Gamecocks secure their eighth team shutout of the season.

Kentucky is led by Tyler Riggs (five goals) and Matt Lodge (four goals, two assists) with 10 points on the year. Sam Brooks paces the offense with 27 shots, including eight on goal. UK has won two out of its last three games, including a 2-1 win on the road at then-No. 17 Tulsa. Tyler Beadle has played every minute in net for the Wildcats this season. He owns a 1.16 goals against average, has collected 58 saves, while earning four shutouts.

Live stats for the contest will be available via GamecocksOnline.com. Stay tuned to GamecocksOnline.com throughout the next week for updated information on the Gamecocks at the Conference USA Tournament.