Wofford 2, USC Upstate 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Wofford head men's soccer coach Ralph Polson won his 200th career game as the Terriers recorded a 2-0 victory over USC Upstate Friday evening in the Wofford/Nike Soccer Classic presented by Jimmy John's at Snyder Field.
Polson, who began his collegiate coaching career at Presbyterian and posted 196 wins with the Blue Hose, earned his fourth victory of the campaign as the Terriers' mentor as Wofford (4-3) continued its unbeaten run of four straight on Fridays this season.
The Terriers and Spartans battled early, but Wofford took control midway through the opening period. With just over five minutes left in the half, freshman Ethan Miller sent a corner kick to the far post, which found the feet of sophomore Alexander Drummond. Drummond redirected the pass past the USC Upstate (1-4) defense for his first career goal at 39:53.
The Terriers kept the pressure on the Spartan defense, holding a 9-3 shot advantage at halftime.
Wofford continued to push forward, having numerous shots go wide or high of the cage. However, at 67:55, sophomore Wilson Hood broke through the back line and beat goalkeeper Peter Davis on a one-vs.-one breakaway opportunity for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
The Terriers would outshoot USC Upstate 10-4 in the second 45 minutes for a 19-7 edge throughout the contest. Senior Phil Beene, playing in his second game of the year, and sophomore Armin Kinigadner paced Wofford with four shots each.
Timo Foerster, Alex Garcev and David Stanbra led the Spartans with two shots apiece.
Joey Taylor collected three saves in net for his 11th career shutout, moving him within two of Will King (1990-93) for the program's all-time record. Davis stopped seven Terrier attempts.
The victory for Wofford was its first in the series since 1981 and only the third overall, in a series which has not seen the two teams play since 1988.
In earlier action of the Wofford/Nike Soccer Classic, Furman and Georgia State battled to a hard-fought 2-2 tie. The two teams would score a pair of goals within 37 seconds of each other both times.
The tournament will conclude with two more matches Sunday at Snyder Field. USC Upstate and Furman are slated to start at 1 p.m., followed by Georgia State and Wofford at 3:30 p.m.
Furman 2, Georgia State 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Furman and Georgia State each rallied from one-goal deficits before playing to a 2-2 draw in double overtime in men’s soccer action Friday afternoon at the Wofford/Nike Soccer Classic.
Furman moved to 1-4-1 on the season while Georgia State stands at 3-2-1.
The Paladins jumped on top at 31:23 when Andrew Krysiak converted a penalty kick, but the Panthers answered just 23 seconds later as Stephen Minyono buried a shot into the lower corner off assists from Donald Kirkland and Dathan Knott.
Kirkland gave Georgia State its first lead with just over five minutes remaining in the match collecting the ball outside of the box and beating Paladin goalkeeper Josh Zimmer to the left side.
As the Panthers had done in the first half, Furman erased the lead quickly equalizing at 2-2 just 37 seconds later. Walker Jernigan played a corner into the box to Warren Creavalle who notched his first collegiate goal.
The Panthers outshot Furman 14-12 in a game which featured six yellow cards. Furman held a 7-3 edge in corner kicks. Zimmer made three saves for Furman while Felipe Carvalho registered three saves for Georgia State.
Furman concludes play in the Wofford/Nike Classic on Sunday when it takes on USC Upstate at 1 p.m. at Snyder Field.
Davidson 2, UAB 2
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After 110 minutes of back-and-forth action and twice finding themselves trailing, the Davidson men’s soccer team battled the University of Alabama-Birmingham to a 2-2 tie Friday evening in the opening match of the Nike Invitational at Charlotte’s Transamerica Field.
Down 2-1 with five minutes to go in regulation, junior Yannick Pilgrim tied the match when he collected a crossing pass by senior Whitey Bolan, turned away from the UAB defense, and fired a low shot into the right-hand corner to put the count at 2-2. It was the first goal of the year for Pilgrim, and Bolan’s first assist.
“Tonight was a really gutsy effort,” said Davidson head coach Matt Spear. “This team has been battling some adversity, and I’m real proud of these guys how hard they played throughout the match. When we found ourselves behind, we could’ve folded. But we recovered, kept fighting, and got the goal back on a beautiful score by Yannick.”
The ?Cats came out firing in the first half, recording their first shot 15 seconds into the match, and notching 11 in the frame. In addition to the goal, those chances brought about a number of close chances, including one at the 30-minute mark when a Pilgrim header off a corner kick bounced off crossbar and went straight down, barely missing the goal line.
The first goal of the match was scored by UAB, when Shane Elsner headed the ball into the net off a long cross from outside the penalty box.
Davidson found the back of the net in the 40th minute when sophomore Alex Caskey maneuvered his way through the UAB defense, taking a shot from three yards outside the penalty box that snuck past the goalkeeper’s diving attempt and into the lower left corner of the net, pulling the ?Cats even at 1-1. It was Caskey’s second goal on the year, matching his total from the 2007 season.
The Blazers went back on top with just under six minutes remaining when UAB’s Michael Mravec deflected a corner kick off his heel and past the Davidson defense to go up, 2-1, and setting up Pilgrim’s 85th-minute equalizer.
Both teams battled in the final five minutes of regulation to try and find the game-winner, but both defenses held strong, turning back the scoring attempts and sending the match into overtime, the first extra period played by Davidson this season. Going in, Pilgrim knew how critical the extra time could be.
“You’ve just got to tell yourself that every play matters,” he said. “If you are the one to make the big play, you can win the game for your team. So you have to just know that every play matters, even when you’re tired.”
Sophomore Matt McElroy, who replaced starter Robby Goldsberry in goal in the second half, made a spectacular save four minutes into OT, when he stonewalled a point-blank UAB shot, then gathered up the rebound to prevent another chance by the Blazers. McElroy then made an almost identical save in the final minute of play to preserve the draw. On the opposite side, Machel Turner just missed a chance to end the match with two minutes remaining in the second overtime when his header to the near side of the goal went just wide of the net.
Goldsberry added to his Southern Conference-leading saves count with a pair of stops in the first half of the match. McElroy had four saves of his own, all of which came in the two overtime periods. Pilgrim and Charlie Reiter each took a game-high six shots, helping the ?Cats out-shoot the Blazers, 22-18, on the match.
The Wildcats will close out the tournament on Sunday when they face off against the Eagles of Winthrop, with kick off scheduled for 12 noon from Transamerica Field, a match that Spear believes could be the beginning of the turnaround for the team.
Whenever you come back, especially twice in one game like we did tonight, that shows your resilience,” he said. “It shows the team believes, and that is critical. When you get a resilient team that believes they can come back, that goes a long way in being successful.”
South Carolina 4, College of Charleston 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. --- Three goals in the first period paced the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 4-0 victory over the College of Charleston Cougars in men's soccer action on Friday night at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium.
With the loss, the Cougars fall to 4-3-0 on the season, while South Carolina improves to 4-2-1 with the win.
"South Carolina played an excellent game, made plays and scored goals," said head coach Ralph Lundy. "We just couldn't make a play and made mistakes. When you make mistakes against a good team like South Carolina, you're going to pay for it and we did."
The Gamecocks got off to a fast start in the match when Sam Arthur scored a goal off a free kick from Jeff Scannella at the 3:42 mark. Arthur scored his second goal of the match in the 30th minute off an assist from Danny Cates to make the score 2-0.
Kevan Hawkins ended the half with a goal in the 44th minute off an assist from Schuyler Reardon. Going into the half, South Carolina led 3-0, despite the fact that the Cougars outshot them 7-6 in the period.
In the second half, Charleston once again outshot the Gamecocks (5-3), but could not register a goal. Hawkins added another goal in the 76th minute to make the final tally 4-0. Reardon was credited with another assist on the play. Goalie Jimmy Maurer earned a shutout victory and made six saves between the net for the Gamecocks.
For the Cougars, Matt Morris led the team, recording three shots on the night.
The Cougars will return to action on Thursday, September 25 when they host the Saturn of Charleston/Nike Soccer Classic. The Cougars will host Jacksonville at 7:30 p.m., while Alabama A&M and Stetson will face off in the first game of the day at 5 p.m.