The South Carolina men's soccer team (7-5-2) was defeated 4-0 by the Marshall Thundering Herd (7-1-4) Wednesday night at the Hoops Family Field at Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex in Huntington, West Virginia.
The first half began with a series of fouls and free kicks by both teams. Most of these free-kick opportunities resulted in corner kicks that were unable to find the back of the net.
A Marshall foul from junior defender Louie Salkeld gave South Carolina a free kick. Salkeld was given a yellow card for dissent.
Sophomore forward David de la Vibora scored the first goal for the Thundering Herd shortly after the administering of the yellow card with a shot into the bottom right of the goal.
Marshall added to their lead with a corner kick. Freshman forward Gabriel Stevanato scored the goal with a shot into the top right of the net with junior midfielder Yasha Schaerer assisting on the play to put the Thunder Herd up 2-0 at the half.
The second half started with a Gamecock foul that allowed the Thundering Herd to obtain a free kick. Junior defender Rai Pinto was able to score off a series of plays from the free kick with a shot into the top left of the goal. The play went under review for possible offsides, but was called to be successful later on, making the score 3-0 just three minutes into the half.
A series of fouls and corner kicks followed for both teams, which later resulted in a yellow card for Freshman defender Joao Alves for the Thundering Herd. Alves received the card for time wasting after picking up the ball after a play, before a throw-in by the Gamecocks.
Senior midfielder Ryan Holmes picked up another yellow card for the Thundering Herd. This was his fifth yellow card of the season, which restricts him from playing in Marshall's upcoming game against Old Dominion.
The Thundering Herd was able to obtain a fourth goal of the night after junior forward Carl Romberg shot into the top left of the goal, with junior defender Takahiro Fujita assisting on the goal, leaving the score at 4-0.
Gamecock freshman forward Matthew DiJianne also picked up a yellow card for unsporting, and another yellow card was given to junior defender Braian Amaro for time wasting on the side of the Thundering Herd.
The game ended with a free kick for Marshall, leaving them with the final possession of the ball and allowing the game clock to run out.
Gamecock Defense
The South Carolina men's soccer team was able to hold off Marshall in terms of shot attempts and plays made from counterattacks.
The Thundering Herd had a total of 14 shot attempts, only four of which resulted in a goal-scoring drive. The other ten shot attempts were blocked by Gamecock defenders or deflected away by headers or long plays downfield.
The Gamecocks were also able to steal the ball from the Thundering Herd in long plays by making counterattacks that could be swept through the legs of midfielders and brought downfield for shot attempts of their own.
Fighting for Possessions
The Gamecocks were able to fight against the long possession times held by the Thundering Herd.
Marshall was able to hold onto the ball for long periods of time. However, those periods of time would be interrupted by the Gamecocks making defensive plays to move the ball into their own possession times and making plays between midfielders to get the ball to the back line.
The Gamecocks were able to obtain four corner kicks off these drives and set themselves up multiple times for possible goal-scoring possessions, even though no goals were scored .
Varied Player Structure
One thing that changed the dynamic for the Gamecocks in the second half was the ability to move around players on the field to create the best odds for defensive strategies and allow for new opportunities to establish scoring drives.
Changing the player structure on the field helped vary who the Gamecocks were defending, but it also threw off the other team's strategy as to what plays they could or could not repeat from the first half.
Both defenses remained strong throughout the 90 minutes. However, moving around players allowed the Gamecocks to stay agile against the Thundering Herd.
What's Next?
The South Carolina Gamecock men's soccer team will play the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Oct. 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Stone Stadium. The game will be streamed ESPN+