Another season with plenty of new and familiar faces for Gamecock men's soccer is on the horizon this fall – head coach Mark Berson’s 40th year as the face of the program.
Coming off a 6-9-2 campaign in 2017 which saw South Carolina miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016, Berson has been working throughout the summer with to build chemistry among the team and get his players “on the same page” as they move closer toward exhibition and regular season matchups.
“It’s critical,” Berson said. “Building the chemistry is important. Building the relationships out on the field as far as positionally. Getting everyone on the same page. Guys come in here and they can all play, and now we have to get them all on the same page. It’s all those processes going on at the same time ... Without hard work in the summer, we can’t move forward. We’ve obviously put in the work and that gives us a huge step here as we start putting things together in preseason.”
South Carolina has a full schedule of talented programs slated to visit Stone Stadium this fall, including Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Old Dominion and Florida International University.
All four programs reached the NCAA tournament last season, with Wake Forest making it to the third round as the No. 1 seed. Virginia Tech, FIU and Old Dominion all lost in the second round of the tournament.
Despite South Carolina bringing back 14 letter-winners and eight starters from the 2017 season, there are plenty of newcomers on the Gamecocks' roster, including Syracuse transfer midfielder Kyle Gurreri (Totowa, New Jersey) and five freshmen.
Among returners, the Gamecocks' roster is highlighted by last season’s team points leader, midfielder Luca Mayr.
With the departure of former starting goalkeeper Will Pyle, South Carolina will see some new faces on the goalkeeping front with senior Ian McGrane, sophomore Justin Bauer and freshman Ryan Bilichuk taking over the position. All three did not play in any matches last season for South Carolina.
“The first goal is to begin to look at all the new players and determine what roles and responsibilities everyone’s going to take,” Berson said. “Whether it’s a veteran player, whether it’s a returning player, a new player and then start to put them together in our team shape and our team philosophy and the way we want to do things. Those are the critical factors. At the same time, we’ve got to make sure we stay away from injuries so it’s an interesting thing we have to work hard to get the roles and responsibilities straight, we need to make sure we’re healthy and then we just kinda start to see, as we move through the season, how things are going to progress.”
The Gamecocks will open the 2018 regular season on Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. against the Georgetown Hoyas at Stone Stadium in what will be the first-ever match between the two programs.