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USC Men’s Soccer Falls To No. 3 Wake Forest

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Gamecock men’s soccer team suffered a 3-0 loss to No. 3 Wake Forest on Tuesday evening in non-conference action at Stone Stadium. The loss drops Carolina’s overall record to 7-5-2, while the Demon Deacons improve to 10-2-2 on the year.

South Carolina goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer collected a season-high eight saves in the match, including six in the second half. Wake Forest held a 21-8 upperhand in shots, including a 15-3 advantage in the final 45 minutes of play. Senior midfielder Schuyler Reardon led the Gamecocks with three shots in the match, while junior midfielder Blake Brettschneider added two. For the Demon Deacons, forward Zach Schilawski posted three shots, two of which resulted in goals, while Chris Estridge added a tally, and defender Kyle Adams and midfielder Sean Randolph each registered an assist in the match. Neither team earned a caution in the match, as Wake Forest committed six fouls against just four by the Gamecocks. Maurer tallied a game-high eight saves, while Demon Deacon goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald collected two in the victory.

Brettschneider had his first opportunity at net in the third minute of play, pushing a Danny Cates cross just wide of net on a half-volley. It didn’t take long for Wake Forest to respond, as Schilawski redirected a cross from Adams, scoring on a header inside the Gamecock six-yard box in the ninth minute for the 1-0 upperhand. Both teams had their chances the remainder of the half. Reardon placed one of several long throw-ins in the match near the Wake Forest goal, finding junior midfielder Evan O’Dell who connected on a header that hit the cross bar with 10 minutes left in the opening half. Minutes later, Fitzgerald collected his lone save of the first half with just under two minutes to play. After a Demon Deacon foul, senior midfielder Jeff Scannella tapped a Carolina free kick to Brettschneider, who hit a rocket towards the Wake Forest goal, forcing Fitzgerald to make a save to hold the contest at 1-0 entering halftime.

Wake Forest dominated on the offensive end of the pitch during the second half. Schilawski posted his second goal of the match, an unassisted tally in the 59th minute and Estridge scored the final goal in the 79th minute on an assist from Randolph. In net, Maurer was the star of the second half, collecting six saves, many on shots within 10-yards of the goal.

South Carolina returns to Conference USA play when it travels to face FIU on Saturday. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Miami, Fla.

I thought USC looked horrible (Bill Walton reference) last night. I would love to know what the time of possession stats were for the game?

From what I observed USC came out in a 4-5-1 and didn't really switch until late in the 2nd half. Can someone explain why you would stay in a 4-5-1 once your are scored upon? I understand this formation to be more of a defensive formation and thus once you go down in the score you must be able to put some offensive pressure on the oppostition.

fabregas dominated the center mid, i meant # 6 for wake forest lol.

it was a great game, i though usc was going to at least try... they got lucky it didnt get ugly.

Could have been worse. I thought Wake looked a lot sharper a few weeks ago versus UNC. Also saw Carolina play Davidson a month ago and thought they looked better versus Wake then Davidson. Carolina backs played a lot better in the Wake game then they did vs Davidson.

Alma, yeah # 6 is a player. Him and #10 (outside mid)impressed me vs UNC. 6 was a beast again Tuesday nite. Loved how they moved him back and forth between attacking and holding cm. Very stylish player.

Alma you are right.....#6 was a very smooth player. Def man of the match.

Alma...what happened with Real yesterday? My bad wrong board.

USC had a few chances including a break away that went wide. Wake's ball movement and passing was awesome.

usc is terrible, i kind of feel sorry for cates, a lot of kids from gorgia i noticed, none of them any good.

the only good thing about sc is the keeper, and some speedy kid in the right wing, but he did missed the one he had.

i support college soccer but is just not my taste, best players always end up pro or not playing college bc of the grades.

it will be nice to have an strong usc team in the future.

ill bring back the champions league thread so we can talk madrid and ac milan.

Didn't think Cates played so well. Over dribbled at times and was never dangerous.

USC did create a few chances and blew 2 really good opportunities. I thought they did a pretty good job defensively also. Wake plays a very pretty style and USC was more disruptive defensively than UNC was 2 weeks prior. USC was very porous defensively when I saw them earlier in the year and they seemed to have tightened up since then.

Once WF went up 2-0 on USC they played mostly possession ball. If I am not mistaken the third goal was from the middle of the field just outside the 18. You could see it coming as the shot was open most of the night. Serve it in pass it back for the midfield running onto the ball. I have watched alot of USC games and I thought their overall performance was rather uninspired! For goodness sake they were playing the #4 team in the country and they looked like it was practice. Maybe going down so early had an affect but really no excuse in my book.

#6 on WF played the beautiful game. He played with ease, vision and control the entire night. I guess that is why he was the captain of the team. I felt he was by far the best player on the pitch.