Fry, Velez, Kaba earn various honors
After a winning weekend for several South Carolina teams, three athletes received a variety of weekly honors to commemorate their efforts.
Frying High
In Saturday’s win 33-23 over East Carolina on the gridiron, almost half of the Gamecocks’ points came off of the right foot of sophomore placekicker Elliott Fry. Converting all four of his field goal attempts and tacking on three extra points, Fry was recognized by the Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award as one of the organization’s three “Stars of the Week.” He also drew the attention of the conference, earning a Special Teams Player of the Week nod from the SEC. After missing his lone field goal attempt and converting four extra points in the season opener against Texas A&M, Fry’s point total on the year is now 19. At his current pace, he’s on track to surpass his team-leading point total of 99 from a year ago.
Defense Wins Championships
The South Carolina men’s soccer team has played two games in the last week, and two Gamecocks in particular stood out enough in both contests to garner awards for their performances. Sophomore keeper Marco Velez was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week after allowing just one penalty kick goal in last Tuesday’s overtime win over Clemson and keeping a clean sheet Sunday against Mercer. The goalie registered nine total saves across both games. Senior defender Mahamoudou Kaba, the preseason selection for Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week. The honor comes after playing in all 192 minutes of action for South Carolina over the past week and scoring the opening goal for the Gamecocks against Mercer on Sunday.