Aug. 29, 2008

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Sophomore Chad McCoy (Houston, Texas) scored in the 81st minute to lift USC Upstate to a 3-2 victory over Brewton-Parker in the Spartans' season opener Friday night at County University Soccer Stadium.

The win by the Spartans improves head coach Greg Hooks to 11-3 in season openers at Upstate. Overall, the Spartans are 22-7 in season openers in the 29-year history of the program. Upstate improved to 1-0-0 on the year and will take more than a week off before returning to the field on Sept. 8 at Georgia Southern. Brewton-Parker fell to 1-1-0 on the year.

Upstate looked in total control throughout the first half and into the second half, holding a 2-0 lead. The Spartans opened the scoring in the first half when Brewton-Parker goalkeeper took down Erkan Yildirim (Flensburg, Germany) in the box to prevent him from gaining control of a loose ball. Upstate received a penalty kick and Alex Garcev (London, England) finished the play with his first goal of the season to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute. Upstate out-shot Brewton-Parker, 11-4, in the first half.

"I thought we played well in the first half," said Hooks. "We had a couple of injuries that occurred during the game and some of our guys couldn't play much in the second half. We had to play some young guys in the second half and I think our inexperience showed. Brewton-Parker was a very good team with some talented, experienced players. Their experience showed in the second half.

"At the end of the day, it is very good to get a win. To have them come back and tie the game and for our players to respond by getting the late goal shows some character. Learning to how to win is important and we took a step in a positive direction tonight."

Upstate made it a 2-0 game in the second half when Yildirim played a pass from the right side of the field to David Stanbra (Worcester, England) and Stanbra beat two defenders and hammered a shot into the net from 16 yards out in the 57th minute.

Brewton-Parker, though, would fight back to even the match. It all started in the 70th minute when Upstate goalkeeper Patrick Regna (Rochester, N.Y.) came off his line to punch a ball out to the left sideline. However, Baron Nathan Knight was there to send a long cross to the far post over Regna where Nathaniel Okogie headed the ball into the open net to cut the Upstate lead to 2-1.

Brewton-Parker added its second goal of the game less than three minutes later when Upstate committed a foul just outside the 18-yard box and gave the Barons a free kick. Oswaldo Saravia bent the ball around the Spartan wall and into the net to tie the game at 2-2.

Upstate countered in the 81st minute to put the game away. Freshman Mike Kohlmeir (Huntersville, N.C.) beat his defender and moved from the left to the center of the field just outside the 18-yard box. He slid a pass to McCoy on the right side of the box and the leading returning scorer put the shot into the right side of the goal for the eventual game-winning goal.

Upstate out-shot Brewton-Parker 22-11 for the game and had a 7-1 edge in corner kicks to illustrate the pressure the Spartans applied throughout the game. Regna finished the game with three saves on the night, while Brewton-Parker keeper C.J. Davis added seven.