The South Carolina men’s soccer team remains undefeated after defeating East Tennessee State 2-0 on Sunday night, despite playing a majority of the game with just 10 players.
Much like its game against USC Upstate on Tuesday, the Gamecocks were shown a red card in the fourth minute, resulting in the team being a man down for the rest of the match.
The men's soccer team lost senior midfielder Sebastian Reventlow-Mourier who was sent off after an aggressive slide tackle to ETSU and junior defender Enrique Cruz, who had to be carted off the field due to a severe leg injury.
But even with its numerical disadvantage, South Carolina claimed its fourth win of the season in what head coach Tony Annan called a "gritty performance" from his squad.
“For being, again, 10 men after five minutes is probably the toughest position we could have put ourselves in," Annan said. “Very gritty performance, very determined performance, very resilient performance.”
The opening goal for the Gamecocks came in the 22nd minute, after junior midfielder Ethan Ballek dribbled his way through several ETSU defenders before slotting a shot in the bottom right corner of the goal. The strike was his fourth of the season.
South Carolina nearly scored its second goal of the game when redshirt sophomore forward Bryce Griffith narrowly missed a shot in the same corner.
In the second half, the Gamecocks built onto its one-goal lead after graduate student forward Martin Yahia scored on a header after a cross from freshman midfielder Ronnie McGrath.
ETSU took the advantage of South Carolina playing a man down by being the aggressor throughout the game, putting up 12 shots compared to the four from the Gamecocks.
However, none of these attempts made it past freshman goalie Filip Vesterre, who had five saves and notched his second clean sheet of the season.
Resilience is key
For the second straight game, South Carolina was forced to play with just 10 men and, once again, came away with the win.
One of these players who stepped up in the absence of another was fifth-year defender Andrew Goldsworthy. The veteran defender played the full 90 minutes and made crucial defense stops throughout the game.
“I felt the team did a fantastic job going down a man early, really weathered it throughout 90 (minutes)," Goldsworthy said. "I’m so proud of the boys.”
South Carolina was also without its leading goal scorer senior forward Harrison Myring who did not play in Sunday's game.
Offense continues to shine, spread wealth
The Gamecocks currently lead the Sun Belt Conference in goals this season with 19 after scoring just 20 goals in 2023. On the same note, South Carolina has had nine different goal scorers this season, compared to just eight from last year.
Freshman midfielder Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez, who has scored three goals himself, said that is the case because the Gamecocks have multiple offensive weapons who trust each other on the pitch.
“Trust is the most important thing in our team, so being able to trust the guys to do their job is great," Lopez said.
Gamecocks remain unbeaten
South Carolina still remains undefeated, sitting at 4-0-2. This is the team's best start to a season since 2003, where they began the campaign by going 7-0-0 before falling to Portland.
Heading into South Carolina's first conference matchup of the season against No. 6 Marshall, Annan is confident that his team will have another resilient performance and come out on top
“Resilient, grit and hard work, that will beat talent any day of the week,” Annan said.
What's next?
South Carolina will look to continue its unbeaten streak on Friday against Marshall at Stone Stadium. The game will kickoff at 7 p.m., and it will be broadcasted on ESPN+.