Oct. 24, 2012

Final Stats

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s soccer team suffered a 3-2 loss to No. 9 Coastal Carolina in non-conference action on Wednesday night in the final regular-season home contest of the 2012 campaign for Carolina. Sophomore forward Snoopy Davidson and junior striker Bradlee Baladez netted goals for the Gamecocks.

“Coastal is a very good team. Shaun Docking does a great job with that program, which is well coached,” South Carolina head coach Mark Berson said. “Some of our younger guys came out and played very well. We continue to try and fine-tune some things. I thought Bradlee Baladez played a very complete game tonight and in the midfield I thought that Braeden Troyer and Devin L’Amoreaux played well. A good outing by a lot of guys tonight, which is a real positive.”

The Chanticleers posted 16 shots in the match compared to 10 from Carolina. Baladez led the way for the Gamecocks with three shots with one goal and an assist, Davidson added a tally and redshirt-freshman Ryan Freiburger and sophomore Niklas Kivinen each added an assist. Redshirt-freshman Robert Beebe played the first half in goal for Carolina, collecting two saves, while also posting the first assist of his career. Alex Long earned one save while playing the second half.

Ricky Garbanzo led the way for Coastal Carolina, scoring all three goals in an eight-minute span early in the second half. Ashton Bennett added three shots and netminder Federico Bertele posted three saves.

Coastal had its first offensive set eight minutes into the first half, as Bennett just missed left of frame. Baladez missed high of frame at the 15 minute-mark, before Beebe collected his first save of the match four minutes later on another attempt from Bennett.

The Chanticleers were awarded a free-kick 30 yards from goal that was cleared by the Gamecock defense, before South Carolina marked the scoreboard with 13:52 remaining. Beebe sent a long ball forward out of the Gamecock defensive third towards Baladez down the left sideline. Baladez chipped a Coastal defender, sending a cross into the six-yard box where Davidson connected with a strike to the center of goal for a 1-0 Carolina upperhand.

Coastal threatened with consecutive corners near the 10-minute mark, but the defense held its line and the Gamecocks held on to the one-goal lead at the half.

Garbanzo scored his first goal in the 47th minute, and followed with tallies in the 49th and 53rd minutes to give CCU a 3-1 advantage.

The Gamecocks started an offensive push with just under 20 minutes remaining in the half when Kivinen would play a ball to Freiburger on the right side. Freiburger found Baladez 20-yards from goal, and his strike deflected off a CCU defender before finding the back of the net to near the score at 3-2 with 18 minutes remaining.

Coastal was able to clear further Gamecock attacks, and the contest ended with a final 3-2 score.

South Carolina travels to No. 13 Wake Forest on Saturday in non-conference action. Game time is set for 7 p.m., with live stats available via GamecocksOnline.com.