Oct. 8, 2015

No. 15 South Carolina Hosts Florida Atlantic
Eugene E. Stone III Stadium – Columbia, S.C.
Fri., Oct. 9, 7 PM
| @GamecockMSoccer

Promotions:
Free admission!
Bottled water, soda and all concessions items will be $2
Fans are allowed to bring in their own unopened bottled water as well
Donations will be accepted for relief efforts (details)

Due to circumstances related to the floods that hit Columbia this week, we are unable to provide live video coverage of Friday night’s match on SEC Network +.

15 SC Men’s Soccer Notes 10/8

Gameday Changes for South Carolina Home Soccer Matches
Making the Most of a New Opportunity – Brad Muller’s Feature on William Pyle Coach Berson Mic’d Up
Conference USA Soccer: An Elite History

South Carolina Team Notes

• The Gamecocks matched their three-or-more-goal outings from a year ago already. They have three out of the nine matches played, while last year’s team also had three on the year out of 20.
• South Carolina has gone 4-1 with the new starting defensive combination of juniors Ive Burnett and Koty Millard on the outside, junior Matt McManis and freshman Peyton Ericson as the center backs and sophomore William Pyle in goal.
• In the six wins, South Carolina allowed only six goals.

Offense Highlights from the First Half of the Season

• South Carolina’s midfielders posted some explosive offense in the early going of 2015.
• Senior Jeffrey Torda has three Gamecock game-winners, the second getting national recognition.
• His scissor kick goal made the No. 2 spot on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays for Aug. 31.
• Junior Danny Deakin followed two matches later with a hat trick, scoring all three goals against UNC Greensboro.
• That Sept. 8 Gamecock hat trick came almost exactly 14 years after the previous one, as Jordan Quinn recorded his on Sept. 9, 2001, against TCU.
• Deakin added a brace (two goals) in the win over No. 8 Elon, scoring both in the second half.
• Junior Koty Millard has a goal and three assists, redshirt senior Asa Kryst has a goal and two assists, while senior Ryan Arambula has three assists and junior Kurtis Turner has two helpers.
• As a group, they have tallied 65 percent of the goals and 86 percent of the assists.

Forwards Coming on Lately

• Gamecock forwards Kevin Walker and Bjorn Gudjonsson have come on strong recently.
• Walker scored the first Gamecock goal in three straight outings in the four-match winning streak.
• He’s the first Gamecock since Mahamoudou Kaba in 2013 to score in three consecutive matches.
• Gudjonsson made his return to the pitch at Marshall and promptly scored the game-winning goal, his first collegiate tally.
• With the shift in alignment making Jeffrey Torda and Asa Kryst forwards, the Gamecocks have seen six of their last eight goals come from the front line.

We Schedule Top Competition

• Of the 17 regular-season matches scheduled for the Gamecocks, 12 come against top-100 RPI teams in the final 2014 report from the NCAA.
• Ten of those ranked in the top 50, five from C-USA (Charlotte, Kentucky, UAB, Old Dominion and New Mexico).
• Four foes made the NSCAA/Continental Tire Preseason Top 25, with five more among those receiving votes.
• Eight of the Gamecocks’ foes made last year’s NCAA Tournament.
• South Carolina has faced six RPI top-35 foes already and have six of their final eight matches against teams currently in the top 50 of the RPI.

Berson Now Fifth on NCAA Division I Coaching Wins List

• The only head coach in South Carolina men’s soccer history, Mark Berson ranks as one of four coaches in NCAA Division I history with 450 wins at one institution.
• The active Division I wins leader, Berson owns 478 career victories in 38 years, which includes his 11 in 1977 at The Citadel.
• He is tied for fifth on the NCAA Division I wins list and tied for 15th on the all-divisions listing.
• One win pushes Berson into fifth alone on the Division I list with Tom Martin, who retired after last season at James Madison.
• Berson coached his 750th collegiate match vs. Kentucky on Oct. 25, 2014.
• He’s coached 11 players who have captured 13 All-America nods at South Carolina.
• He’s also guided at least one player on each of the past four US Men’s National Teams in the World Cup (Clint Mathis 2002, Josh Woolf 2002 and 2006, Brad Guzan 2010 and 2014).

Homegrown Gamecocks Highlight 2015 Roster

• Eight Gamecock players hail from inside the Palmetto State, highlighting Mark Berson’s commitment to recruiting and developing local talent.
• Three of those started in the first five matches: seniors Ryan Arambula and Wesley Eads as well as junior Koty Millard.
• For the past decade, South Carolina’s roster has increased its number of natives on the team, with six or more on each squad since 2006, a mark only hit twice in the previous 15 years.

Gamecocks Have a Rich History in NCAA Tournament

• On 20 occasions, the Gamecocks made an NCAA Tournament, the most in Conference USA.
• Eleven times, the Gamecocks have played the NCAA Tournament Round of 16.
• South Carolina is 16-19-1 in the tourney, making two College Cups in 1988 and 1993.

Beating Two Top-10 Teams in a Week Brings Recognition

• The Gamecocks won their first game vs. an NSCAA top-10 team since 2013 by downing No. 8 Elon 3-1 on Tues., Sept. 22.
• They followed that with a 2-1 overtime victory over No. 7 New Mexico on Fri, Sept. 25.
• It’s the second time South Carolina has downed top-10 foes in consecutive matches, matching wins in 2000 over No. 3 Virginia and No. 8 Maryland (9/8-10).
• Goalkeeper William Pyle earned the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week nod and made Top Drawer Soccer’s (TDS) Team of the Week for his efforts.
• College Soccer News (CSN) put midfielder Danny Deakin on its Team of the Week after his two goals in the Elon win.
• All four national polls recognized the Gamecocks, with the NSCAA putting the squad 19th in the country on Sept. 29.
• Soccer America had SC at No. 13. The Gamecocks stood 17th in TDS and 18th in CSN last week.

Attendance Outstanding at Stone Stadium

• In the 2015 season opener, 4,325 fans packed the stands for the eighth-largest crowd to watch a men’s match in Stone Stadium’s history.
• In the Oct. 7 report from the NCAA, South Carolina ranks seventh in average attendance this season, with 3,155 fans counted through four home matches.
• Over 1,000 season tickets have been sold for Gamecock Soccer in 2015.
• The first two exhibitions of 2015 also saw over 4,000 students scan in for each, filling the stands.
• The 2014 Gamecocks had the fifth-highest paid attendance average in NCAA Division I at 2,602.
• That 2,602 attendance average is the largest for a season in Stone Stadium history.

Recap of C-USA Opening Win at UAB

• South Carolina used Asa Kryst’s goal to take a 1-0 win at UAB to start Conference USA play.
• His game-winner came in the 55th minute, getting the help from Ryan Arambula and Koty Millard.
• Sophomore William Pyle, making his first Gamecock start in goal, made six saves in the win.
• Seven Gamecocks played all 90 minutes, including defender Matt McManis in his debut in the Garnet and Black.

Roster Notes

• South Carolina brings back 13 letter-winners and 16 members from the squad that made the 2014 Conference USA Tournament Championship Match.
• Ten newcomers join the group: three transfers and seven freshmen.
• The Gamecocks return 47 percent of their goals and 57 percent of their assists from last year.
• Third-team All-Conference USA midfielder Kurtis Turner is the top returning scorer.
• Turner has led the Gamecocks in assists in each of his first two years.
• Junior goalkeeper Marco Velez is also back after playing 87 percent of the minutes in goal and recording three solo shutouts last season.

The Gamecocks Shine in the Classroom as Well

• South Carolina’s 16 returners have a total of 26 SEC Academic Honor Roll certificates and 25 Conference USA Academic Honor Roll notations between them.
• Last season, 20 of the roster members picked up spots on each honor roll.
• Ryan Arambula (three) and Jeffrey Torda (two) both own multiple C-USA Academic Medals, which go to honorees holding a 3.75 cumulative GPA or higher.
• Both seniors also have CoSIDA Academic All-District nods, Arambula in 2013 and Torda in 2014.
• Ten times, SC has garnered the NSCAA Team Academic Award, including in each of the past seven years.
• Twice in the past six years, the Gamecocks have captured the top GPA in NCAA Division I according to the NSCAA.

11th Year for South Carolina in Conference USA

• The 2015 season is South Carolina’s 11th as a men’s soccer affiliate member of Conference USA.
• In 2011, the Garnet and Black captured the league’s regular-season crown, sharing it with UAB.
• Twice more, the Gamecocks won the league’s tournament, in 2005 and 2010.
• South Carolina’s student-athletes have 48 all-league nods, 14 coming on the first team.
• In C-USA outings, South Carolina owns a 41-28-16 (.576) mark.
• On the road, that mark is 21-13-10 (.591). At Stone Stadium, that record is 20-15-6 (.561).
• The 2014 Gamecocks fell one game shy of their fifth undefeated road slate in their C-USA history.

Scouting Florida Atlantic

• The Owls are 0-8-1 on the season, dropping the last seven outings, including three in Conference USA action.
• The only winless team overall in C-USA, Florida Atlantic has given up 24 goals while scoring six.
• Teams outshoot FAU nearly 2-1 (127-68) on the season and get more than double the corner kicks (51-22).
• Three penalty kicks have been awarded to the Owls’ opposition while the Owls have yet to get one.
• Elijah McDonald has two of FAU’s six goals, while Aaron Laraneto has two of the team’s four assists.
• Oliver Powers has nine shots, most on the team, while both Jason Fitzgerald and Ramon Whittaker have four shots on goal each.
• Josh Nolan has most of the time in goal, and he’s got a 2.38 goals against average in 719 minutes.
• Nolan does have 23 saves, while Phillip Hitpass has 11 in his 134 minutes in goal.

Series History vs. the Owls

• The two teams have met only twice, both since FAU joined Conference USA. SC is 2-0 so far.

Recap of Georgia Southern Victory

• South Carolina downed Georgia Southern 4-2 in its second match of the season.
• The highlight came on senior Jeffrey Torda’s scissor kick goal in the 62nd minute.
• That goal, which proved to be his second game-winner of the year, made the No. 2 spot on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day.
• Three other Gamecocks scored in the match, including the first goals as Gamecocks for senior Kevin Walker and junior Danny Deakin as well as the first of the season for junior Koty Millard.
• Three Gamecocks made assists, including senior Ryan Arambula on Torda’s game-winner with his free kick.

Notes from Mercer Win

• South Carolina posted a 2-1 win over 2014 Southern Conference regular-season champion Mercer in the season opener at Stone Stadium.
• Senior Jeffrey Torda tallied his third career game-winning goal with a 55th-minute strike, assisted by junior Danny Deakin.
• The Gamecocks owned the lead since the 18th minute when freshman Ben Davidson curved his free kick around the wall and into the upper 90 of the goal.
• Seven of South Carolina’s starters played all 90 minutes.

Recent Dominance of Archrival Clemson

• Since 2007, the Gamecocks are 6-3 against their archrival Clemson, with all three losses coming on the road (2011, 2013, 2015).
• The last four matches at Stone Stadium have gone to the Gamecocks, three coming in shutouts.
• It’s the best stretch since the Gamecocks went 10-4 from 1985-95 against the Tigers, with three of the wins in that stretch coming in NCAA Tournament play.