The Gamecock soccer programs held back-to-back matches this weekend in Columbia, with the women’s squad defeating No. 23 Auburn 3-0 on Friday and the men’s team falling to No. 7 Kentucky 2-1 on Saturday at Stone Stadium.
The No. 14 Gamecock women's soccer team earned its ninth victory of the season and its eighth win at home on Friday night against the Tigers.
Freshman midfielder Selma Sol Magnusdottir notched an unassisted goal in the first half of play for her third tally of the year. South Carolina held Auburn scoreless going into the second half, and senior midfielder Simone Wark and sophomore Meredith Christopher tacked on their first goals of the year at the 72nd and 76th minutes to secure the victory for the Gamecocks.
Starting goalkeeper Micaela Krzeczowski stopped four shots on goal and is now 9-2-0 on the season.
Head Coach Shelley Smith took away plenty of positives from her team’s victory. Coming off a 3-0 win against Kentucky last Sunday, cohesiveness proved to be key for the Gamecocks.
"Our team prepared well for this match," Smith said on www.gamecocksonline.com. "They were really up for this match and had a lot of energy ... We won a lot of 50-50 balls, tackles and in transition. I think overall tonight was a great performance and a great effort by everyone who played minutes."
Going up against an 8-0-1 Kentucky club, the 2-6-0 men’s team held a 1-0 lead going into the second half with Bjorn Gudjonsson netting the 11th goal of his career in the 43rd minute of action on Saturday night. Gudjonsson’s tally was the first of the season for the fourth-year forward after not appearing in a single match during the 2017 season.
Junior Justin Sukow and sophomore Luca Mayr led all Gamecocks with shots on goal at two a piece. Sophomore goalkeeper Justin Bauer recorded three saves and faced 12 shots in 90 minutes of play in South Carolina’s loss to the highly-ranked Wildcats.
"This was a tough loss for our team tonight," head coach Mark Berson said. "We created several good chances to put the game away, but we were unable to do so. Give Kentucky credit, they were able to stick their chances and that was the difference in the match ... I want to give our guys credit - they have been working hard to improve. However, our execution needs to be better both in critical defending and attacking situations. We have a quick turnaround before we go to play another top-ranked team in Virginia Tech on Tuesday."
Men’s soccer will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, on Tuesday to face No. 21 Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. and will return to Stone Stadium for a match against Charlotte on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m.
After a visit to the University of Georgia on Thursday, the women's soccer team will face the Florida Gators at Stone Stadium on Sun. Oct. 7 at 3 p.m.