South Carolina's men's soccer team capitalized on momentum against non-conference opponent Georgia State as the Gamecocks defeated the Panthers Tuesday night.
The Gamecocks came right out of the gate offensively as they outshot Georgia State 3-0 for the first 28 minutes of the match, but failed to secure any goals on those early attempts.
“We created some really good chances tonight,” head coach Mark Berson said. “We didn’t really capitalize on them.”
The Panthers then went on an offensive surge of their own later in the first, outshooting the Gamecocks 7-3 from the 29th minute to the end of the half, but still couldn’t manage to score a goal.
“Georgia State is a very good team,” Berson said. “They’ve got quality players, they possess the ball well, they move the ball well. I think they had a couple of spells of possession in there.”
The Gamecocks slowed down the Panthers’ offensive tempo in the second half as South Carolina’s offense dominated the time of possession.
“One of the key things for us that got the game back was we were able to then keep the ball, we were able to dictate the tempo, keep the ball and open them up and make them chase and defend us a little bit," Berson said. "I think that was the key there that was important.”
In the second half, junior midfielder Luca Mayr scored the match’s lone goal, assisted by freshman defender Elijah Bebout in the 69th minute of the game, which ultimately lead to the Gamecocks' 1-0 victory.
“It was an electrifying goal at that point” Berson said. “And I think we had had some pressure, we had had some opportunities and couldn’t quite get it and it was great to see that one go in.”
Berson and the Gamecocks will look to carry this momentum forward as they return to conference play.
“This is a second shut out in a row so that’s a momentum builder.” said Berson. “And the guys played well, we used a lot of different players tonight so we were able to get some guys some minutes that I think can provide some depth for for us because we have a big, big game on Friday night, by any stretch, it’s the biggest game of the year and we need to be ready for that.”
The Gamecocks will look to pick up their first C-USA win against the UAB Blazers Friday night starting at 6 p.m.