With lone goal, Gamecocks top East Tennessee State
Leading up to the start of the new season, coach Mark Berson said that in order for Gamecock men’s soccer to win games this fall, the team would need production from key young players. And after sophomore Jeff Torda’s screamer of a goal in South Carolina’s 1-0 season opening victory over East Tennessee State Friday, Berson had nothing to complain about.
“So far, so good,” Berson said. “Overall, I thought, a great team performance.”
Torda, who scored two goals last season, netted the first goal of the 2013 season and the eventual game winner in the 25th minute after slicing past several ETSU defenders and ripping a shot into the upper corner.
“It’s always great to win of course,” Torda said. “But the first game of the season…it’s huge and it puts us off on the right foot.”
A Dallas-area native dubbed the “Texas Tornado” by the game’s radio announcer, Torda was quick to bestow credit for his unassisted goal on his team as a whole.
“We all came in, the ball kind of bounced around and I was able to get a hold of it,” Torda said. “I just took a couple dribbles and picked my head up, saw the goal and I just had to have a go. I hit it well and it wound up in the back of the net, so it was a great feeling.”
Torda’s goal came on his second and final shot of the night after his first attempt was turned away by a miraculous full-extension save from the Buccaneer keeper.
Scoring with 20 minutes to go in just the first half of play, South Carolina was forced to protect the lead for the remaining 75 minutes of action, a task which can be daunting for an unexperienced team like the Gamecocks. But in its initial test, Berson thought his team handled the circumstances well.
“The thing I was most pleased about was in the second half, we were able to string passes together and take the pressure off of ourselves,” Berson said. “That’s something we’ve been really trying to do.”
The Gamecocks’ defensive effort was spearheaded by redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Robert Bebee, who earned a clean sheet in the first contest of the season, playing the whole 90 minutes between the posts.
While low scores are often credited to the keeper, the South Carolina defense left its mark on the match, only allowing one ETSU shot to reach Bebee in goal, as he tallied just one save in the contest.
“You have to credit Robert Bebee with getting the shutout,” Berson said. “In from of him the back four did a great job.”
Berson was particularly complimentary of the efforts of two freshman in defender Ive Burnett and midfielder Koty Millard, who made Bebee’s job significantly easier with their performances in their first career starts.
Not one to get ahead of himself, Berson was quick to point out teaching points that he saw in the first match, such as missed shots. But with a win against a team he called “well-organized”, the coach thinks his Gamecocks’ are on their way to a successful campaign.
“All across the board it was a good, solid performance,” Berson said. “So I was pleased. It’s a good start.”