Men?s Soccer Opens Season with Cross-State Rival South Carolina
8/23/2012 8:22:00 PM | Men's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston men's soccer team opens the 2012 regular season with a rematch of last year's opener when the Cougars challenge South Carolina on Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. the match once again features two of the top-five active Division I coaches and both teams have been nodded by national pollsters.
OPENING THOUGHTS:
Head coach Ralph Lundy:
“It's going to be a great game. We had a great game here last year with the
biggest crowd we've ever had. They're off to a great start in their exhibitions
and of course they're an NCAA Tournament team. We've got a great challenge
ahead of us and that's exactly where we want to be. They're a great program and
a great team.
“The game was about even last year and then we took advantage of some chances and won 3-2. We know it's going to be competitive and that's what we take out of last year. We know that it's going to be a tough, tough game and that's where the Cougars belong… playing tough teams and great programs.
“Momentum is important and there are two ways to get in the NCAA Tournament. The first is to win your conference tournament, and the other is to do well against great teams and have an RPI and get an at-large bid. Every game counts, especially against a program we feel sure will be very successful. It builds momentum with us and gives a great start in building our RPI.”
Junior goalkeeper Kees Heemskerk:
“Last year was very exciting. This year it's at their house so it's going to be
a tough game, a hard game. Last year was a fight with some hard tackles so
hopefully it's going to be a good game again.
“We've been working really hard compared to previous years. I'm very excited about how the team is looking and I think we can get a big result against USC.
“Everything is about working hard, keeping the ball and letting our play dictate the game. If we do that, we can beat anyone. We're more solid than in the years before, we have a solid back line right now and we keep the ball well. Everyone has been very concentrated throughout training and our games and I'm very confident about this year.”
GLANCING AT THE COUGARS…
Through the Cougars' pair of exhibition matches, Lundy has put 26 players on
the field in a variety of formations to make his team more flexible and
creative moving forward.
The Cougars started the exhibition season with preseason-No. 33 University of Central Florida and pulled out a 2-1 victory after shutting the Knights out through 90 minutes. Francis Twohig (St. Simon's Island, Ga.) scored for the Cougars when he got his head to a corner kick sent in by Ralphie Lundy (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.). Luke Huggett (Brighton, England) added the second mark when Dann Brinkman (Amsterdam, Netherlands) got a ball through the defense to leave Huggett alone with the keeper and he capitalized to the lower-right corner.
The Cougars had a tougher go in the second exhibition and eventually fell, 2-0, to East Tennessee State University in that contest. The teams were virtually equal in every phase of the game, but the Bucs capitalized on their opportunities while the Cougars failed to and lost the result. Each team produced 11 shots and placed four on the target. The sides were also dead split in fouls, 12-12, with ETSU controlling a narrow edge in corner kicks, 6-5.
Through the exhibitions, Troy Peterson (Federal Way, Wash.) and Shawn Ferguson (Rock Hill, S.C.) have seen the most field time, playing 90 minutes in both matches and only sitting out the extra 30-minute frame the team played against UCF. Ralphie Lundy (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) led the team in shots with seven, followed by Sean de Silva (Port of Spain, Trinidad) and Ferguson with three each.
Last season, the Cougars went 5-8-5 against an extremely grueling schedule which pitted them against seven teams which would go on to the NCAA Tournament.
Lundy returns 10 starters from the 2011 team and 80 percent of his goal scoring from last season. Seven newcomers have joined the ranks who will look to have immediate impacts on the team. Included in that bunch is a pair of junior college transfers who were pivotal in Cloud County Community College winning the NJCAA National Championship last season.
The roster features 10 seniors, six of whom have been playing together for almost seven years since joining as teammates on Discoveries Soccer Club '90. That bunch went on to win the USYSA National Championship together in 2009.
SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS…
Long-time South Carolina head coach and reigning Conference USA Coach of the
Year Mark Berson has brought 7 starters and 15 letterwinners back from his 2011
team which won the Conference USA regular season crown and received an at-large
bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Gamecocks were picked to win the league again in 2012 while junior forward Bradlee Baladez was selected to the 13-member Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference Team for the second-consecutive season, as announced today by the league office.
In 2010, Baladez paced the Gamecocks during his sophomore campaign with the 19 points he amassed with seven goals and five assists.
The Gamecocks have looked strong in their exhibition contests, posting a 6-3 victory over Georgia State and 2-0 result with Elon. Sophomore midfielder Braeden Troyer and junior midfielder J.P. Rafferty both registered two goals to the lead the Gamecocks to victory over Georgia State. Baladez proved early that he thinks he is deserving of the preseason all-conference nod, scoring both goals for the Gamecocks' win over Elon.
Alex Long, Robert Beebe and Chris Duzan all saw time in net over the scrimmages with the junior, Long, leading the way with 90 total minutes in which he's allowed zero goals.
LEGENDS AT THE HELM…
Friday's match pits two of the best minds in the game against each other once
again as Lundy and Berson put their teams out on the field. Berson ranks second
among active Division I coaches at 450 wins with Lundy just behind at 411 wins
and tied for third on that list.
Lundy and Berson are two of just 14 Division I coaches to ever eclipse the 400-win mark.
CROSS-STATE RIVALRY RENEWED…
These two programs have developed a spirited rivalry with one another which has
become known for intense, highly-contested, highly-physical matches. Located
roughly 100 miles apart, student-athletes of these two schools have become
quite familiar with each other, many haven played with each other for years through
the youth and club ranks.
“The players know each other through both club and collegiate soccer so there's a rivalry there,” said Lundy. “This has been a great rivalry for many years. When you're only 90 miles away, the players see each other all year long so there's bragging rights. It all has to do with the players and that's where the rivalry comes from. We have all the respect for the Gamecocks, but we want to start the season with a 'W'.”
South Carolina possesses a narrow edge in the all-time series, posting a 9-6-2 record against the Cougars since CofC joined NCAA Division I in 1991.
More recently, however, the Cougars have had the advantage, posting just one loss in the past 10 years. CofC is 5-1-1 against the Gamecocks over that span.
In the team's most recent meeting, the Cougars posted a 3-2 victory in last season's in front of a record-setting crowd at Patriots Point. In a match originally to be aired on the Fox Soccer Channel, CofC never trailed the then-ranked No. 15 Gamecocks and iced the win in the 83rd minute when Twohig booted in a ball kept in bounds and served into the box by George Khoury (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.).
EYEING THE POLLS…
Both the Cougars and the Gamecocks have been receiving some national attention
as the pundits make their preseason picks for which teams will be left standing
come NCAA Tournament time.
TopDrawerSoccer.com, a leading publication on college soccer, releases its weekly Tournament 48, a running attempt to project the postseason college soccer tournament qualifiers. In its first edition of 2012, the poll included both CofC and South Carolina, coming in at No. 43 and No. 31, respectively.
The Gamecocks also received votes in the initial NSCAA Coaches Poll.
The competition won't get a lot lighter for the Cougars this season either, as six other 2012 opponents were also ranked in the TDS Tournament 48. This includes No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Maryland, No. 14 Rutgers, No. 19 Coastal Carolina, No. 25 Furman and No. 32 Stanford.
COUGARS IN SEASON OPENERS…
The Cougars have had a lot of recent success in getting their season off on the
right foot in their season opener. Lundy discussed the importance of building
momentum as the team heads into the bulk of the schedule, and his past teams
have responded with a 7-2-1 record in game ones over the last 10 years. The
Cougars opened last season with the afore-mentioned victory over South
Carolina, and a 2-1 loss to Ohio State in the 2010 opener snapped a six-year
opening day winning streak.
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE FOR THE MATCH…
Fans unable to make the trip to Columbia, S.C., can enjoy both a live stream
and live statistics provided free of charge by gamecocksonline.com.
FOLLOW THE COUGARS…
Another great way of keeping up with the CofC men's soccer team is through the
team's own Twitter account (@CofCSoccer).
The account provides pictures, team activities, statuses when the team is on
the road as well as in-game thoughts and updates.
Followers are invited to pose questions and comments and get invited with the conversation during the match.
LOOKING AHEAD…
The Cougars will be off in the midweek and return to action when the open play
in the 12th annual Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic at Patriots
Point. This year's classic brings in Furman, Stanford and Dayton for a weekend
which once again promises to provide high-level men's soccer.
The Cougars first take the field against Stanford on Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m. and will end the Classic against Dayton on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 2:30 p.m.
All of the action can be seen at Partiots Point with a wide variety of multimedia available for fans who can't make the trip.
Players Mentioned
