Gamecocks fail to reach Elite Eight after Wolverines grab 3-1 victory
When Will Traynor was given a red card in the 64th minute, just one minute after Michigan took a 1-0 lead, the Gamecocks did not panic as their chances of winning and advancing to the Elite Eight began to look bleak.
USC had been in a similar situation earlier this season when playing the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as Mark Wiltse was given a red card and the Gamecocks still managed to score two goals in the last 10 minutes to win 3-2.
What South Carolina didn’t anticipate was the time Michigan had spent preparing for situations in which they could take advantage of the holes a team had when playing a man short, as the Wolverines were able to cruise to a 3-1 victory.
“It certainly made a difference in the game,” Michigan coach Steve Burns said. “Once we went up a goal and up a man, we’ve been in that position before, and we’ve prepared for it a decent amount. I think our guys, in terms of our possession and level of composure, were able to withstand the penetrating four-man runs they would make that would leave them exposed, and we really took advantage of that.”
While USC coach Mark Berson did not feel that the red card adversely affected his team mentally, the Gamecocks felt the loss of not only one of their leading scorers, but also one of the leaders of the USC defense that held strong all season.
The Wolverines went on to score two more goals to earn their place in the College Cup Tournament Elite Eight.
Michigan took an obvious shot advantage from the start as they had five shots to USC’s one in the first five minutes of play, but more significantly was that each shot was on goal, as Maurer finished with 9 saves, with six of those in the first half.
Furthermore, the Gamecocks were pitted against the second leading scorer in the nation, as Michigan’s Soony Saad has 19 goals on the season, while Justin Meram has 15 goals on the season, two of which came against the Gamecocks.
Though the score may seem lopsided, the first half was tightly contested as Michigan’s high-scoring offense collided with USC’s tight defense. In addition, there were several Gamecock opportunities that would’ve given USC the edge had they been able to take advantage of them.
“We had some good opportunities and we weren’t able to capitalize on them,” Berson said. “So many times in these games it comes down to making the play. As the game went, there wasn’t any doubt in our player’s minds that we were going to make the play, but today Michigan did.”
The first goal from Michigan came in the 63rd minute after the ball was bounced in and around the six-yard box after a corner-kick. On an assist from Saad and Alex Wood, Meram was able to net his shot into the far post from the right corner.
Saad followed suit not long after as he streaked down the left side and scored an unassisted goal to put the Wolverines up 2-0 with 20 minutes left in the game.
Finally, Meram got his second goal of the game, tying an NCAA Tournament record, off an unassisted strike from the left inside the penalty area in the 80th minute.
Though the loss concludes the season for the Gamecocks, as well as a career for the seven South Carolina seniors, it was a bittersweet one as it capped off a successful season and it featured the first goal of the season from senior Sam Arthur, who’d led in scoring both his sophomore and junior seasons.
“It was really great that Sam scored,” Berson said. “Sam Arthur has scored a lot of goals for us over his career. This year, we moved him back a little more deeper in the midfield, and he never hung his head, I mean, he worked his butt off, and for him to get that goal today was great.”
The tournament run was also the first one for most of the seniors, as this was the first appearance in the College Cup for the Gamecocks since 2005. Furthermore, it was the farthest a South Carolina team has advanced since 1993, when the Gamecocks advanced to the national championship game.
And while the Gamecocks were certainly hoping for a win, the season will be remembered favorably, especially by the seniors, who waited four years for it.
“It’s been an interesting four years,” Blake Brettschneider said. “We’ve been through a lot as a group together and a year like this just makes it all okay. I think we really came together and just really wanted to bring this team back to being a national powerhouse.”