Carolina Men's Soccer Drops Conference Opener to Chanticleers
Coastal Carolina scored three second-half goals
COLUMBIA—The South Carolina men’s soccer team lost its conference-opening match to Coastal Carolina, 4-1, on Saturday night inside of Stone Stadium.
“I think even though we only had 10 men, I still think we played very well,” said head coach Tony Annan. “I’m still proud of the way the boys tried to play being a man down. Every time we play, we get better. We’re doing things better and the movement is better.”
The Chanticleers (1-1-2, 1-0-2 C-USA) scored the game-winner in the 69th minute. Danny Cabrera collected the ball off a Tristan Himes save just outside of the penalty box and ripped a shot back past the Carolina keeper in the lower left corner for his first goal of the evening. The Chanticleers took a 2-1 advantage at that point.
Down at the half, 1-0, the Gamecocks (1-4-0, 0-1-0 C-USA) equalized in the 57th minute. Jordan Matthews received a long pass deep in the attacking zone from Himes off a goal kick and shot one past Coastal Carolina’s keeper to make it 1-1. The goal was the first of Matthews’ career.
The Chanticleers would score the game-winner 12 minutes later and tacked on additional goals in the 76thminute (Alvaro Garcia-Pasqual) and in the 83rd minute (Garcia).
The Gamecocks were playing one man down after Harrison Myring was shown his second yellow card of the match in the 23rd minute.
Carolina men’s soccer returns to action against USC Upstate at 7 p.m. on Friday at Stone Stadium.
