The 25th-ranked South Carolina men’s soccer team fell to the 8th-ranked Charlotte 49ers Wednesday night 2-1 in a fast-paced, hard-fought matchup.
UNCC was able to score the first goal of the game within the first four minutes on a free kick by Maxi Rodriguez. They continued to have scoring opportunities for the rest of the first half, but South Carolina goalkeeper William Pyle was able to record two great saves in the 28th and 37th minutes to keep the score at 1-0.
Even with their one-goal deficit, South Carolina still led the 49ers in shots and corner kicks in the first half.
In the 61st minute, South Carolina was able to even the score at 1-1 on a diving header by sophomore forward Bjorn Gudjonsson. This was his fifth goal of the season, moving him into second place on the team for goals this season.
The Gamecocks would be unable to score another goal on the night, and eventually UNCC was able to find the back of the net once more. In the 76th minute, Charlotte’s Matej Dekovic scored the eventual game winning goal on a free kick from 27 yards out.
"Free kicks are a big part of the game," head coach Mark Berson said. "Two things: Number one, we want to capitalize on the ones we have down at their end, and also, we want to make sure that defensively we’re sound, and sometimes the ball just bounces that way."
With the loss, South Carolina falls to 8-5-1 (4-1-1 C-USA) on the year. The Gamecocks travel to New Mexico on Sunday before returning home next Friday for their final regular season home game against Kentucky.
Assistant sports editor Abe Danaher contributed to this article.