No. 6 Men’s Soccer Continues Winning Streak, Downs Spartans

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 6 South Carolina men’s soccer team (6-0) defeated UNCG (1-1-4) 1-0 on Friday night (Sept. 11) at Stone Stadium. The start of the match was delayed by nearly two hours due to weather in the area before a constant rain started near the end of the first half.

The Gamecocks applied pressure early, recording two shots on target off a corner kick. Omar Robonna’s corner found the head of Angel Lopez, who had his shot deflected away before Loïc Sany Kong was denied on the second attempt.

Carolina opened the scoring through an own goal in the 7th minute on the ensuing corner from Mika Habel. He delivered a looping cross into the penalty area which deflected off a Spartan defender and into the right side of the net.

Yoni Perez found Habel sprinting behind the Spartan backline in the 19th minute, who brought the ball down carefully before forcing a save out of the Spartan keeper. The Spartans responded by striking the post twice. UNCG’s best scoring chance came in the 25th minute when they were awarded a penalty after a handball was called. Pablo Torre’s attempt sailed wide left to keep the Gamecocks in front at halftime.

In the 64th minute a Spartan player was shown a second yellow card, resulting in Carolina playing a man-up for the remainder of the match. It was the third time the Gamecocks have played a man-up this season.

Noah Scheidweiler produced a crucial save in the final ten minutes, making a diving save to his left .

Carolina recorded 12 shots with seven on goal, while the Spartans also finished with 12 shots and four on target. Carolina led 6-to-3 on corner kicks. Scheidweiler finished with four saves and recorded his second clean sheet in-a-row.