Spartans Nearly Pull Off the Upset against South Carolina

Friday, September 6

Columbia, S.C.

7:00 p.m.

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

0-2-0, 0-0-0

South Carolina

1-1-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	3	Final F
USC Upstate	0	0	0	0
South Carolina	0	0	1	1

9/6/2019 11:24:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, S.C. – For the second consecutive game the USC Upstate Spartans have taken an opponent to overtime and both times have ended in heartbreak, tonight the Spartans fell to the University of South Carolina 1-0 in the 98^th minute of the game.

In the opening half of play South Carolina (2-1-0) took a corner kick within 30 seconds of the game starting. The Spartans defense stood strong and began an offensive attack of their own. In the eighth minute of the contest Pol Monells took a shot on goal trying to jump start the USC Upstate offense. Nearly 20 minutes of game action went by until senior Eirik Abney took the Spartans second shot on goal.

At the halftime break the Spartans led in almost every major statistical category. USC Upstate outshot South Carolina 5 to 4 overall and 2 to 1 in shots on goal. Most importantly the Spartans controlled possession for 59 percent of the time in the opening half of competition.

Coming out of the second half intermission things got a little chippy between the two teams. Aidan Hill and South Carolina's Zach Kirkwood received Yellow Cards within minutes of each other. In the 55^th minute of action Monells took another shot on goal but Buenyamin Yusufoglu came up with another save for the Gamecocks.

The match remained physical for the two sides as USC Upstate ended the half with a trio of Yellow Cards and South Carolina collected a pair in the half. The Spartans recorded 15 fouls in the match, while South Carolina committed 14 fouls in the contest going into overtime.

In the 95^th minute of the game the Gamecocks earned their third Yellow Card of the match and the Spartans had a great opportunity to score on the free kick. After a save by South Carolina the Spartans were unable to convert on an ensuing corner kick as well. Moments later the Gamecocks ended the game in the 98^th minute.

STATS OF THE MATCH:

The Spartans have yet to play a regulation game this season with both matches heading into overtime.
USC Upstate ended up being outshot 15-8 in the contest.
Luca Bulfon stood strong in the goal all game and came away with five saves in the contest.
Six Yellow Cards were issued during the match.

NEXT UP:

The Spartans will travel to Clemson on Monday night, kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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