On Thursday night South Carolina hosted Furman in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at The Graveyard, their first appearance since 2011. South Carolina entered the match with a record of 11-7-1. Furman opposed South Carolina with a record of 8-5-5 but entered with momentum after winning the 2015 Southern Conference Tournament.
First Half
Those who expected to see a defensive grudge match were not disappointed in the first half. The Paladins can be defined as a defensive juggernaut, and in 18 matches they yielded just 17 goals during the 2015 season. They have a stellar keeper in German native Sven Lissek, although he was not tested much by the Gamecocks much early on.
Through the first 15 minutes of the match, the Paladins appeared to be in complete control. It seemed as though there was an electric fence had been laid across midfield before the game as the ball remained almost exclusively in Gamecock territory. Despite the overwhelming barrage of pressure, Gamecock defensemen senior Ive Burnett and 2nd Team All-Conference USA Koty Millard where able to keep Furman at bay, liming opportunities for quality shots.
South Carolina increased their offensive attack as the half progressed. The Gamecocks saw some success by overloading the right side of the field. Still, Furman’s excellent defensive game prevented them from getting any shots on net. With Paladin defenders following the Gamecocks like shadows, South Carolina did not get to unleash their athletic brand of play.
At the conclusion of the first half both teams failed to get a shot on goal, and both South Carolina and Furman managed to muster three total goals.
Second Half
After shutting out opponents all through their conference tournament, Furman entered the second half without having let up a goal in the month of November. Still, South Carolina came out of the break looking a like a different team, finding chinks in the Paladin armor.
At the 57 mark, South Carolina managed to finally exploit those holes. Midfield junior Danny Deakin created his own space to drive down to the box from midfield. Three Furman players collapsed on Deakin, but the English-native managed to fire a shot off just before his window closed. The shot snuck past the keeper Lissek and found the bottom right corner of the net. The goal marked Deakin’s 11th of the season.
After Furman’s seemingly impeccable goalie was scored on, the Paladins appeared to play with a sense of urgency. At times they even looked to be frantic, with South Carolina over powering them on both sides of the field.
Just as the Gamecocks relied on their leading scorer to alter their momentum, the Paladins needed their biggest offensive threat to deliver for them in a time of chaos. Lucky for Furman junior forward Lewis Hawke delivered just in time.
With less than a minute to play Furman had possession with what figured to be their last chance to tie the match. As time continued to wind down midfielder Brendan Richardson received a deep ball from defender Kyle McLagan. Richardson corralled the deep ball and crossed it to a lurking Hawke, who once again found the net for Furman with just 18 seconds left. For Hawke, this key score was his 5th on the year and forced sudden death extra time.
Overtime
After having a victory stolen from them so late, South Carolina came out firing. The Gamecocks riffled off a seemingly endless volley on Lissek, but the star keeper kept his composure as Carolina continued to take off-balance, wild shots. Still both teams failed to score in the first round of overtime.
Stellar defensive play defined the second round of overtime. Columbia-native once again made a tremendous play for South Carolina when he saved a shot just in front of the net on a valiant slide.
Shoot Out
With two halves and two periods of overtime in the books, South Carolina and Furman took their battle to a shoot out. Each time was given five opportunities to record as many goals as possible. Torgeir Nyobe scored first for South Carolina, but it was Kurtis Turner who recorded the winning shot. William Pyle allowed only one Paladin to score, and South Carolina took the shoot out victory 2-1.
South Carolina coach Mark Berson was highly impressed with the effort that both teams showed. "You need to credit Furman with showing tremendous resilience with getting the goal with 18 seconds left. On the other hand after that, our guys showed exceptional mental toughness. They didn't cave in. You know it is pretty disheartening to give up a goal at that point. They battled though the overtimes and found a way to win.”
Turner, the hero of the night, noted that after all of the missed penalty kicks there was a lot of pressure when it was his turn. The junior midfielder emphasized that, "Obviously you are a little bit nervous, but I think it is all about confidence. When you've got a lot on the bag you have to go easy on the ambition and put the ball in the back of the net."
Carolina will advance to the second round of the tournament and will draw No. 15 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.