Team opens up CUSA tournament on Wednesday
In their final tune-up game before the Conference USA tournament begins, the Gamecocks fell short to Old Dominion by a score of 2-1.
The loss puts South Carolina’s record at 7-6-5, with a 4-2-3 conference record to end the regular season.
After falling behind 2-0 when giving up goals in the 15th and 40th minutes, sophomore forward Jeff Torda scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season in the 80th minute of play.
The Gamecocks had a few chances in the first half, but Old Dominion goalkeeper Sean Stowe stopped all the scoring threats, impressing coach Mark Berson.
“In the first half, their goalkeeper made three outstanding saves. We really had them on their back foot for some stretches, but they whipped us on a couple of set pieces. That’s going to happen sometimes,” Berson said. “You’ve got to credit Old Dominion; they are a very good team. In the second half ,our guys fought back, and I thought they did a very good job. We got one and it looked like we were going to get another.”
Redshirt junior midfielder and co-captain Stephen Anderson also believed that there were some missed opportunities for the Gamecocks.
“Well, we gave up two silly goals in the beginning of the game, and we couldn’t fight back in the end. We kind of dominated in the second half, but we had those two silly mistakes early on,” Anderson said.
On a more positive note for Berson and his team, it was Senior Night and the coach was able to praise his seniors on what they have meant to this team.
“They’ve done a great job, not only on the field with their play, but in the locker room, and in the offseason, they’ve done a great job of working with these younger guys and bringing them together,” Berson said. “Our seniors have done a great job leading this group throughout the year.”
Anderson, despite having one more year of eligibility, was part of the Senior Night festivities, and was able to reflect on his time at South Carolina.
“These four years have been some of the best four years of my life. The facilities we have, the coaching staff (and) the administration have been great, and you couldn’t ask for anything better,” Anderson said.
The regular season might not have ended the way the Gamecocks wanted it to end, but they were able to earn the No. 4 seed in the Conference USA Tournament and will play the No. 5 seed Tulsa this Wednesday in Charlotte.
Berson doesn’t believe that this latest loss is going to affect his team come tournament time.
“You can take some really important things from a game like this. First of all, Old Dominion is a good team, and in the second 45 minutes I thought we played pretty well,” Berson said. “What you have to take from it is that it’s do or die now, and we have to win the conference tournament in order to go to the NCAA Tournament. We can’t afford to dig a hole for ourselves and make sure we compete for 90 minutes, and I think our guys will do that.”