Last year’s season was a wild one for the Gamecocks: An ESPN Top-10 scissor kick volley goal by Jeffrey Torda, a hat trick by junior Danny Deakin — first in program since 2001 — a perfect home record and a penalty shootout win against Furman to advance in the NCAA Tournament. Yet with all excitement, the Gamecocks still fell short in both the Conference USA tournament, losing to Marshall in the semifinals, and the NCAA Tournament, falling to UC Santa Barbara in overtime the round following South Carolina’s dramatic win against Furman.
However, in 2016, Head Coach Mark Berson has the same outlook for this season as he’s had for the past 37 years coaching the Gamecocks.
“We expect to contend for the conference,” he said. “We expect to be in the hunt for the conference championship, and our goal is to make the NCAA tournament and advance.”
Those goals might be more difficult this year than in times past, seeing No. 24 South Carolina plays one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The Gamecocks will matchup against No. 3 Clemson, who lost the NCAA Championship game last season, No. 5 Wake Forest, No. 21 Coastal Carolina and No. 25 Rutgers in the non-conference slate. Add in the normal Conference USA opponents in No. 23 Florida International, Kentucky and Charlotte, and one could argue a potentially average season for the Gamecocks.
With that said, Coach Berson, the winningest active men’s soccer coach in NCAA history, contends that their schedule this year isn’t out of the ordinary, especially since most of the predictably more difficult games are at home where the Gamecocks held an 8-0-2 record.
“Those teams as top RPI teams prepare us for the conference season,” he said. “We want to make sure we have a good measuring stick of where we need to be. To be the best, you need to compete against the best and we try to do that every year.
“We knocked off a lot of top teams at home, and that was a major focus for us, we felt like our home needs to be a fortress for us. We really need to be tough at home. Our fan support is unbelievable, and we want to make sure to give them all the excitement and wins we possibly can.”
While the home record was fantastic last season, they do need to work on their away play. At 2-7, the team was subpar when not in Columbia. Part of their poor play was their defense. If they can figure out how to not let up as many goals, then their overall record can improve dramatically. Coach Berson realizes their hole in the armor and has worked to fix it for the upcoming season.
“We scored plenty of goals last year, but we were defensively not good at the early and middle part of the season, and then we really got better,” he said. “Improving our defending is a major focus for us going into this season because we are going to have a very talented attacking team. If we can get our focus correct defensively, I think we can improve on the results both home and away.”
With a potentially bolstered defense and an attacking front that’s one of the deadliest in Conference USA, the Gamecocks have high aspirations for the 2016 season.
Players to watch
Danny Deakin – The junior started all 21 matches last year and had a phenomenal sophomore season. Deakin, a transfer from Mercyhurst, led the Gamecocks in goals and was second in Conference USA with 11, only behind Charlotte’s Kyle Parker, who decided to go professional after only one season and was selected by the Columbus Crew. He’s already nominated for the Hermann award watch list and was named to the All-Conference USA preseason team. Look for him to be the offensive centerpiece for the Gamecocks this year.
Koty Millard – Millard also started all games last year and was an energetic player when on the pitch. He’d put pressure on defenses trying to clear the ball, challenge headers (he’s only 5-foot-6) and constantly chase down opponents. The rising senior also tied the top of the team with five assists and finished with second team All-Conference USA honors. The Columbia native will continue to be a distributor this season, pairing well with Deakin.
Dates to circle
Kentucky – With first-team All-American and Canadian National Team player Callum Irving playing goalkeeper, Kentucky had arguably the best defense in Conference USA, let alone the nations. While Irving has since graduated, the Wildcats return senior defender Jordan Wilson, an early candidate for the All-American team. Sprinkle in seniors Charlie Reymann and Alex Bumpus, who both played significant minutes last season, and that team can stonewall any other collegiate team. Kentucky also returns their leading scorer, Stefan Stojkovic, making them the biggest threat in Conference USA.
Wake Forest – Wake Forest made it all the way to the quarterfinals last season before getting knocked out by eventual champions Stanford. Even so, they still ended the season ranked No. 1, and will most likely be on top of the rankings. Head coach Bobby Muuss returns eight starters this coming season and adds a top-10 recruiting class, making the Demon Deacons one of South Carolina’s most difficult opponents when they come to Columbia.