South Carolina men's soccer kicked off its season Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida, against the North Florida Ospreys, earning a 4-1 victory to begin the 2026 campaign. The win marks the third consecutive season the Gamecocks have won their season opener.
The two schools have met four times in program history, with Thursday's win marking South Carolina's first victory over North Florida since 2017.
After an initial lightning delay, the match started with a diving save from South Carolina sophomore goalkeeper Noah Scheidweiler in the 11th minute. The save prevented the Ospreys' first shot from resulting in a goal. South Carolina then opened in the 22nd minute when a short throw-in to junior midfielder Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez was served into the box, where junior defender Yvan Malarte scored a goal off a header .
The Ospreys equalized on a corner kick in the 37th minute. By halftime, the Ospreys outshot South Carolina 5-2. That momentum was halted in the second half, which saw the Gamecocks strike early with a goal in the 54th minute by junior forward Loïc Sany Kong.
Just 12 minutes later, Sany Kong assisted sophomore forward Angel Lopez on a free kick. Lopez headed the ball into the bottom-left corner of the goal, extending South Carolina's lead to 3-1 .
Lopez and Sany Kong connected again in the 66th minute, when Lopez found a wide-open Sany Kong who scored his second goal of the night. It's the first brace of Sany Kong's career and his first career multi-point match .
In the 63rd minute, the Ospreys earned a pair of corner kicks as well as a shot, but the Gamecocks halted each scoring opportunity. South Carolina outshot North Florida 8-5 in the second half, with each team finishing with 10 shots total.
The Gamecocks (7) had more than doubled the Osprey's shots on goal (3) by the final whistle. Scheidweiler finished the match with two saves in goal.
South Carolina will play its first game in front of Gamecock fans this season on Monday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. against USC Upstate.