Gamecocks Conclude Regular Season Against Monarchs
Carolina will honor its seniors on Friday night at Stone Stadium
COLUMBIA — The Gamecocks conclude the regular season at 7 p.m. on Friday night with a match against Old Dominion in the friendly confines of Stone Stadium.
It’s Youth Soccer Night at Stone Stadium. Fans wearing their youth soccer jerseys to the game will receive admission for $1. There will also be a face painter and balloon artist available.
Free pizza will be available for the first 200 South Carolina students.
Six Gamecock seniors will be honored before the match on Friday. Josh Corning, Kyle Gurrieri, Jared Gulden, Andrew Halloran, Ryan Bilichuk and Innocent Twishime are set to be honored before the match.
GAMECOCK NOTABLES
The Gamecocks still have a chance at a Conference USA Tournament berth, but will need some help to earn the final spot in the C-USA Tournament.
Carolina would need to win and have Florida Atlantic lose to Kentucky and the goal differential of those two matches would need to be +6 for the Gamecocks. For example, a Carolina 3-0 win and an FAU 3-0 loss would get Carolina into the conference tournament.
In their last match, the Gamecocks lost to No. 2 Marshall, 4-0.
Logan Frost has led the way on offense for Carolina this season. He has netted four goals and assisted three times for a team-leading 11 points.
Jared Gulden and Peter Clement have also been a strong foundation in the midfield and the defense.
Carolina has a knack for earning corner kicks. The Gamecocks are 21st in the country with 6.40 corner kicks per match.
SCOUTING THE MONARCHS
The Monarchs are fresh off a Halloween draw with UAB. The result ended a six-match losing streak.
Karan Mandair has been the offensive leader for Old Dominion. He has scored four goals this season in just eight games after missing most of September.
Alan Dawson is the longtime head coach of the Monarchs. He has been at the helm of their program since 1997, making 12 NCAA appearances.
SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: Old Dominion leads 8-5-1
Last Meeting: 3/14/2021
Last South Carolina Win: 10/29/2017, 3-2
Last Old Dominion Win: 10/5/2019, 2-1
Last Tie: 3/14/2021, 1-1 (2OT)
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Tony Annan on …
… his thoughts and expectations heading into Friday’s match:
“Obviously we’ve got to go into this game trying to win it by as big of a margin as we can if we want to get into the conference tournament. We would need a couple of results to go our way as well.”
… if scoring will be an emphasis:
“I think we will just stick to the message we’ve given all season and stick to our style of play, which is dominate the opposition. Hopefully, that will lead to converting our chances and putting goals on the board, which is what we need in this game. The guys have done unbelievably all season. They’ve worked tirelessly to try and get better and better.”
… the senior class:
“The seniors have really stepped up and really led this year. They’ve taken on the leadership part. They all lead by example on and off the field. To honor them and give them a good send off is obviously really important. They’ve been a huge part of our team and have helped us do what we’ve done.”
