Carolina Plays Host To High Point Wednesday Night
Sept. 27, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (5-3-0) welcomes High Point (5-2-1) to Stone Stadium Wednesday evening in the middle match of a three-game home stand. The Gamecocks have won four-straight matches dating back to a 2-1 win over Georgia Southern on Sept. 13.
“The big thing for us is to improve. We say it again and again, but that’s really our focus to make sure we’re getting better every time we step out onto the field,” said Head Coach Mark Berson. “We have a lot that we can continue to work on. Clearly scoring three goals in each of the last two matches and having six different players score is a real positive for us. At the same time, we know we want to keep playing faster. We want to be more sharp. We want to finish our chances better.”
Wednesday night’s match will be Youth Soccer Night. All Gamecock fans that wear their youth soccer club jerseys receive $1 admission as well as everyone in their group.
Carolina and High Point will be meeting for the just the third time in school history. The Gamecocks lead the all-time series 2-0, with both wins coming at home.
South Carolina will continue to wear teal warmup shirts for the match to help raise awareness for ovarian cancer (read below for more details).
GAMECOCK QUICK HITS
– Mark Berson is the winningest active NCAA Division I coach, 5th on the all-time NCAA D1 list
– Berson is tied for the most NCAA Tournament appearances among active DI coaches with 21
– The 2015 Gamecocks advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament
– The Gamecocks return 17 letterwinners from last season’s squad
– South Carolina returns eight starters from last season’s squad
– Senior midfielder Danny Deakin leads the Carolina offense after scoring 11 goals last season
– Deakin and fellow senior Koty Millard were both named to the 2016 Preseason All-C-USA Team
– Deakin was named to the CollegeSoccerNews 2016 Preseason All-America Second Team
– South Carolina, who is currently on a four-match win streak, scored a season-high three goals in each of their last two wins; the six goals were scored by six different players
– Carolina’s win over Furman on Sept. 20 was its first of the season over a ranked opponent, as the Paladins were slotted No. 18 by Soccer America
– Senior Kurtis Turner was recently named Conference-USA Offensive Player of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal at Furman and recording his second assist of the season vs. Georgia State
– The Gamecocks posted a season-high 27 shots and 11 shots on goal in their win vs. Georgia Southern
– Deakin led the team with seven shots vs. the Eagles (2 SOG) and freshman Luca Mayr was second on the team with six shots, including five shots on goal, an individual season-high for Carolina
-Deakin (3G, 3A) leads the team in points with nine; senior Kevin Walker ranks second with eight (4G)
– Goalkeeper William Pyle is 5-1 and has 19 saves in six games with two shutouts, good for an 82.6 save percentage and a 0.66 GAA
– South Carolina picked up its first win of the season on Sept. 4 after beating UCF, 2-1
– Mayr scored his first career goal as a Gamecock vs. Mercer on Aug. 30
– Deakin (26) and Mayr (26) are tied for the team lead in shots
– Mayr leads the team with 15 shots on goal
RECORD CROWD WATCHES SOUTH CAROLINA SEASON OPENER VS. CLEMSON
A new Stone Stadium attendance record was set last Friday in the 2016 season opener vs. Clemson, as 6,892 fans attended the matchup. The mark broke the previous record of 6,157, also set vs. Clemson on Sept. 3, 2010.
OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
The Carolina men’s soccer team is supporting Ovarian Cancer Awareness month in September by wearing teal warmup jerseys for their matches. In addition to the teal warm up jerseys and shoelaces for the South Carolina team, the Gamecock coaching staff and support staff will be wearing teal polo shirts, while the goalkeeper will be donning a teal jersey.
SCOUTING High Point
The Panthers were picked to finish second in the Big South Conference preseason poll behind defending champion Radford. Senior forward Chris Ramsell, who was High Point’s leading scorer in 2015 (5G, 3A) is tied for the team lead in points (10) with Siggi Benonysson. The duo each has four goals and two assists. The Panthers have a well-balanced attack as 10 different players have scored goals this season. High Point has outshot their opponents 138-67 in 2016. The Panthers feature two all-conference players from a year ago in the midfield in seniors Renato Punyed and Ebe Kudolo. Goalkeeper Keegan Meyer, a redshirt freshman, is 4-2 with 12 saves in his first season starting in the net.
