Carolina Gears Up For Trip To Birmingham

COLUMBIA — The Gamecocks hit the road for a match against UAB at 8 p.m. on Saturday night in Birmingham, Alabama, at BBVA Field. Carolina earned its first conference point on Sunday night with a 2-2 draw against Florida Atlantic.

Fans will be able to stream the match live on CUSA.tv.

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

Peter Clement scored for the Gamecocks. He took a free kick from just outside the penalty box in the 24th minute and executed to perfection. Clement placed the ball in the upper right corner of the frame and sent it past the Owls’ goalkeeper. It was his second goal of the season.

With the two additional points, Clement leads the team in points with six.

The other Gamecock goal came via a Florida Atlantic error. The Owls deflected a cross from Jordan Matthews into their own net for an own goal.

Carolina has a knack for earning corner kicks. The Gamecocks are tied for 16th in the country with 6.90 corner kicks per match.

SCOUTING THE BLAZERS

The Blazers are the only team in Conference USA without a point this season. Their two losses in C-USA play were against No. 20 FIU and No. 8 Kentucky.

UAB is 36th in the nation in saves per game, but are 194th in goals allowed average. They have allowed at least one goal in all but one match this season and have given up two or more goals in three matches.

UAB’s most recent match was canceled (weather). Before that cancellation, the Blazers lost three straight matches, two of which came against ranked teams.

Nathaniel St. Louis is the Blazers’ leader in goals with five and points with 11. He has scored a goal in three of UAB’s previous five matches.

Jeff Kinney is in his third season as the head coach at UAB and owns an 8-31-3 record.

SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: South Carolina leads 14-6-1
Last Meeting: 4/3/2021
Last South Carolina Win: 4/3/2021, 6-0
Last UAB Win: 10/12/2019, 1-0
Last Tie: 10/29/2008, 1-1

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Tony Annan on …
… his thoughts heading into a road match against UAB:
“I’m thinking about much of the same stuff as we’ve been doing. We’re trying to improve week-by-week and day-by-day. We’ve had a good response from the boys after that result against FAU, so we’re going in with the same attitude and the same gameplan.”

… what has been good about training this week:
“They’ve just had a lot more intensity and sharpness. They’re starting to get the ideas we’ve been talking about for a few weeks. That is becoming more apparent in training. We’re definitely seeing progress.”

… what they need to do well against UAB:
“For this season, we just need to continue to work hard and have a good mentality going into games. We obviously need to impose our style of play in these games. I think that’s the most important piece.”