In a match that featured a number of new faces, the South Carolina Gamecocks (0-1-0) were defeated by the No. 13 Georgetown Hoyas (1-0-0) at Friday night’s men’s soccer home opener at Stone Stadium.
Senior goalkeeper Ian McGrane saved seven attempts in 13 shots faced in his Gamecock debut. McGrane allowed just one goal, which came in the 92nd minute and was scored by Georgetown’s second-leading scorer last season, Ifunanyachi Achara.
In addition to McGrane's debut, freshman Josh Corning, junior Andrew Johnson and sophomore transfer Kyle Gurrieri broke into the lineup during the match.
“I thought Ian did a good job,” South Carolina head coach Mark Berson said. “I thought he managed the game well, I think he knew when to try to play ... a number of guys came on and played their first outings for South Carolina tonight and I thought they did quite well. That’s really encouraging at this point.”
With two crucial matches ahead within the next week against Lipscomb and in-state rival No. 11 Clemson, Berson reflected upon his team’s performance and how being on nearly even footing with a team as skilled as Georgetown will aid the Gamecocks down the road.
"I thought we went toe-to-toe with them," he said. "They’re a very good team. I think we learned a lot about ourselves and we’ll just keep pushing and trying to get better.”
Lipscomb is coming off a 2-0 victory over Belmont on Aug. 24 in Nashville, Tennessee to open its regular season. The 2017 Atlantic Sun Conference Champions will come into Stone Stadium on their first stop of a two-game road trip.
South Carolina will return to Stone Stadium on Monday night, going up against Lipscomb (1-0-0) at 7 p.m in what will be the Bisons’ first road match of their regular season.
The Gamecocks’ first home slate of matches this season will conclude on Fri. Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. against the No. 11 Clemson Tigers.