Wild Finish Capped by Torda’s Two Goals; SC Wins 5-4 at FIU

Game #1

Oct. 8, 2014

MIAMI –

With just three seconds left to play, South Carolina (6-5, 1-2 C-USA) got its fifth and final goal to capture a 5-4 win at FIU (3-6-1, 0-3 C-USA) in a wild finish.

With the 10-second countdown on, the Gamecocks played one last ball into the box, and junior Jeffrey Torda got the rebound on the back post and scored it for the victory after redshirt freshman Mikkel Knudsen’s shot was stopped.

Junior Ryan Arambula earlier netted the final equalizer of the night in the 82nd, tapping in a bouncing ball in the box that sophomore Ive Burnett sent down.

In the 77th, the Panthers’ Daniel Gonzalez found the back of the net from inside the six after Deshawon Nembhard sent the long cross toward him. FIU wasted no time in taking the lead again, getting it to 4-3 when Roberto Alterio finished the rebound from Gonzalez’s shot.

In the 49th minute, FIU captured its first lead on McFarland’s blast from just inside the 18. It took 20 minutes for South Carolina to hit the neutralizer, as Torda poked one over the line in traffic to make it 2-2. Three minutes later, the Gamecocks took advantage of a set piece, with sophomore Kurtis Turner driving the ball into the six and finding senior Mahamoudou Kaba, who headed it home to retake the lead 3-2.

The Gamecocks took a 1-0 lead when Knudsen took the a header from one of South Carolina’s midfielders and shot from the arc at the top of the box, sneaking the ball past the goalkeeper into the lower left corner of the goal in the 12th minute.

FIU leveled matters six minutes later as Quentin Albrecht polished off the thru ball from Alterio on a far-post shot for his sixth goal of the season. The Panthers held a 6-2 shot advantage in the first half.

Game Changer:
The wild play in the second half ended with the Gamecocks capturing the win on right place, right time goals by Arambula and Torda.

Key Stat:
Torda’s tap-in with three seconds left overcame everything else that happened in the contest.

Notables:

FIU held advantages in shots (19-14), shots on goal (12-10) and corner kicks (4-3).
Gamecock sophomore goalkeeper Marco Velez’s stop of the penalty kick in the first half was his first as a Gamecock.
Velez made eight saves on the night, while his counterpart Robin Spiegle had five.
The last match to have as many goals scored combined for South Carolina came in the same spot on Nov. 17, 2001, as South Carolina took home a 5-4 win over FIU in the final regular season match that year.
Torda scored his second career two-goal game, matching his tally at UAB last year.

Quotable:
South Carolina Head Coach Mark Berson
This was a great win for our guys tonight. They battled until the end, scoring the gamewinner with three seconds left. To win a conference game on the road is always a challenge, and our guys were up to that challenge tonight. Effort and attitude won the day. It wasn’t a game that was won by great attacking flow or great defending play, but it was won on effort and our ability to press the game toward the end.

Tweet of the Match: