With a record like 1-3-0, South Carolina hasn’t started the season the way they expected, but almost all of those game have been close. In each of the defeats, the Gamecocks have only dropped the game by a single goal.
But on Tuesday against Georgia Southern, it was the Gamecocks who got the one-goal edge.
Georgia Southern struck first in the seventh minute. Gamecock goalkeeper William Pyle saved one of the Eagle’s shots, but didn’t clear it from danger. Georgia Southern’s Blake Wilson controlled the ball inside the box and slid a wide open shot past Pyle.
That’s not to say South Carolina didn’t play with urgency.
In the first half alone, the Gamecocks shot 13 times with six of them on goal. That’s one more shot than their average per game at 12. Senior Danny Deakin lead the way with four shots, and freshman Luca Mayr followed him closely with three. They each made Georgia Southern’s goalie save two of their shots.
There is a difference between someone firing a shot that has no chance to go in compared to the shots that have potential, though. Head coach Mark Berson wants his team to focus on putting the ball on target and test the defense.
“The most important thing for us is the quality of our shots and the quality of our chances,” coach Berson said. “So there are shots, and then there are shots that really should have been goals. We want more of that second category.”
Second half was much of the same.
The Gamecocks continued to threat with shot after shot. Nothing seemed to be hitting the mark, though, even though they had put up eight more shots in 40 minutes of second-half soccer.
“That starts to test your mentality,” coach Berson said. “It starts to test your perseverance and test your metal, so that at point I was very, very proud our guys tonight.”
Yet the freshman Mayr finally broke through in the 85th minute. Off a deflection, Mayr squared up the ball about 25 yards out and let it launch. It curled past Georgia Southern’s goalie and into the near post for the Austrian’s second goal of the season.
Mayr again threatened when he used some nifty skills to dribble into the box. In hopes of either a corner kick or a goal, he fired one at the Eagle’s goalkeeper, which ricocheted right to Deakin’s foot. However, he could not convert as he sailed the ball over the crossbar.
The game headed to overtime for two 10 minute halves of golden goal, yet it only took the Gamecocks eight minutes into the overtime to clench the victory.
Senior Kevin Walker netted his third goal of the season as the ball fell to him inside the box. It was an easy tap-in for the seasoned goal-scorer to end the game 2-1.
Up next for the Gamecocks is their first Conference-USA game of the season against Florida Atlantic.