Gamecocks Drop Senior Day Match to Old Dominion
Six seniors were honored for Carolina; Clement, Banahan scored goals
COLUMBIA—The South Carolina men’s soccer team dropped its final match of the season against Old Dominion, 3-2, on Friday night at Stone Stadium.
“I’m actually pleased with the guys and their effort tonight,” said head coach Tony Annan. “I’m glad we got all of our seniors in to play. I can’t knock the effort from the group and I can’t knock the way they tried to play. Although it wasn’t the result we wanted to end the season, there’s still some really good takeaways.”
Eli Carr scored the game-winner for Old Dominion in the 55th minute of play. It was Carr’s second goal of the evening and was the final goal of the match.
The Monarchs (3-9-2, 1-5-2 C-USA) scored two unanswered to beat the Gamecocks (5-9-2, 1-5-2 C-USA) on Friday night. Eliot Goldthorp scored on a penalty kick in the 51st minute to make the match 2-2.
Brian Banahan opened up scoring in the 25th minute. He took a beautiful pass from Kyle Gurrieri down the field and buried a shot in the lower left of the goal.
Old Dominion answered about eight minutes later when Carr scored his first of the night. The Monarchs got out in transition and beat Carolina on a 2-on-1 break down the field.
Peter Clement scored his fourth goal of the season in the 50th minute. He buried a shot in the upper right part of the net. Clement finishes the season tied for the team lead in points (11), goals (four) and assists (three).
Ryan Bilichuk started his final match in net for Carolina. He was honored along with Jared Gulden, Kyle Gurrieri, Innocent Twishime, Josh Corning and Andrew Halloran prior to the match. Bilichuk ended the match with two saves.
The loss concludes the season for Carolina. The Gamecocks wrap up their first season under Annan with a 5-9-2 record.
Annan said he was proud of his team’s effort throughout the season.
“These guys made a big adjustment with a new coach and a new style of play,” Annan said. “It took some time to adjust for them and me, but I can not speak highly enough of the group and how they worked and the effort they put in for each other was marvelous.”
