Junior striker leads team with two goals on season
The South Carolina men’s soccer team will return home to Stone Stadium to host rival Clemson on Tuesday night in the last nonconference game before SEC play.
The Gamecocks enter the match with a record of 2-3-1, most recently losing a tough double overtime game, 3-2, to No. 5 UNC-Charlotte. They won their season-opener against College of Charleston and notched a big win on Sept. 6 over then-No. 2 South Florida in Tampa. Clemson (1-4-2) has struggled early in its season, although it has had a very tough schedule. The Tigers tied with Wake Forest, and lost to Indiana and Notre Dame, all of whom are ranked in the top 20.
South Carolina is led by junior striker Bradlee Baladez, who scored twice in the game against UNC-Charlotte to make himself the Gamecocks’ leading goal scorer in the young season. Head Coach Mark Berson praised Baladez and his scoring ability, saying that he is a player opposing teams go out of their way to prepare for.
“Bradlee is a very dangerous player, and all of the teams we play have to factor that into their plans,” Berson said. “Both goals (against Charlotte) helped us come from behind on the road against the No. 5 team in the country.”
Striker Snoopy Davidson and midfielder Niklas Kivinen join Baladez as leading offensive players. Davidson closely follows Baladez for the team in shots, although he has yet to score, while Kivinen scored his first goal as a Gamecock in the win over USF.
On the defensive end, junior keeper Alex Long has played well for South Carolina, posting 21 saves so far this season along with three shutouts.
Clemson has scored twice this season, with one goal coming from striker T.J. Casner and the other from midfielder Manolo Sanchez. Keeper Cody Mizell has posted 25 saves and two clean sheets. The Tigers’ lone victory was a 1-0 result over USC Upstate, and they played to a scoreless draw with Davidson.
Berson said he wanted the team to build off its experience playing two top-five opponents over the last 10 days.
“We certainly want to take the experience we’ve gotten in the early part of the season and put it into good use Tuesday night,” he said. “Being 1-1 (against two top 5 teams) gives us a good idea that we can compete at the top level, but we expected to win both of those. I think our team is anxious to get back on a winning level.”
Berson also said that he expected an uptempo and high-intensity game.
“[A soccer game against Clemson] usually starts at a furious pace and then eventually settles down and gets a little more under control after a short period of time,” he said. “I think the emotion, the crowd and the excitement of this game is very special.”
He went on to point out that record crowds packed Stone Stadium the last two times the Gamecocks hosted Clemson and that he was hoping for a similar crowd on Tuesday to fire up his team. He noted that Clemson has had a tough schedule up to now, and he didn’t think its record meant anything as it related to the caliber of the Tigers’ team.
“I don’t think you can look at their record and read too much into it up to this point,” he said. “They’re a vastly improved team over last year, and we know it’s going to be a big challenge.”