Men’s soccer set to play Tulsa in opening round of tournament
With the regular season in the books, the South Carolina men’s soccer team is entering the Conference-USA Tournament as the No. 4 seed.
The Gamecocks finished the season with a 7-6-5 record and a 4-2-3 conference record. Despite the fact that South Carolina did not win the regular season conference title, coach Mark Berson was impressed by his team and how they played this season.
“I’m really pleased and proud of our group. This team has done a great job this year of battling through the season,“ Berson said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries, and I think played eight overtime games during the course of the year. The one characteristic that stands out with this group is that they battle, and battle very hard.”
Sophomore midfielder Jeffrey Torda, who is tied for the distinction of top-scorer on the team with five goals, had high praise for his teammates as well.
“We’ve improved throughout the season and got better each game. We came together and started playing at a high level, at an important time to do so,” Torda said. “We’re hitting a good streak and we look to continue that.”
South Carolina’s No. 4 seed was born from a late-season charge that saw the team beat two teams that were in the top-25 at the time of the contests.
The Gamecocks will kick off their tournament run against a Tulsa team that handed South Carolina a heartbreaking loss on a last-second goal at home earlier this season, and Berson sees this as an opportunity to get a measure of payback.
“The loss earlier this season was a really disappointing loss at the time,” Berson said. “Clearly, we want to try right that if we can and try to win.”
Tulsa finished the season sixth in C-USA with a 9-5-3 overall record and a 4-3-2 record in conference.
While the focus is on performing in the crucial tournament contest, Torda said that he and his teammates would also like to settle the score against the Golden Hurricane.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough game. Tulsa is a good team that beat us at home, and it’s definitely in the back of our minds,” Torda said. “We have to come out and do our game plan. And play with the effort and attitude we always come out with.”
Because of South Carolina’s mediocre overall record, the Gamecocks will have to win the C-USA Tournament in order to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Regardless of the immense pressure on his team, Berson feels South Carolina has the mental fortitude to make waves in the competition.
“We’ve done this in the past, we’ve made a run at this before in the tournament, and I think this group will be well prepared,” Berson said. “The big thing is you just take each game 45 minutes at a time, and progress one step at a time. That’s the only way you can progress in this tournament. I think our guys will be clear and focused on that. I do know this: If it goes 90 or 110 minutes, our guys are going to battle. They’re battlers and they’re tough.”