South Carolina men’s soccer to press forward with fall season. What it might look like
The South Carolina football team won’t play Clemson this fall, but the Gamecocks will at least see the Tigers on the soccer field.
The school announced Friday that the men’s soccer team will play a limited number of fall matches. The only finalized game on the schedule is an Oct. 1 contest at home against rival Clemson, but more games are expected to be announced.
It was no guarantee that the men’s soccer team would play this fall after Conference USA announced two weeks ago that it was pushing the fall season to the spring. The Gamecocks play in C-USA because the Southeastern Conference does not sponsor men’s soccer.
Despite not having a conference season, head coach Mark Berson is “working to schedule a limited number of games this fall against programs that have availability and also share the same medical protocols as Gamecock Athletics,” the official release states.
The founder and 42-year head coach of the men’s soccer program at USC, Berson had announced in January that he would retire after this season. Now that season appears as though it will be split into two parts.
It is unclear how many games the men’s soccer team will play this fall beyond the Oct. 1 clash with the Tigers.
Following seating capacity plans approved by the Department of Commerce, the Gamecocks will allow approximately 675 fans to enter Stone Stadium this fall for both the men’s and women’s soccer teams.
The women’s team will play an eight-game, SEC-only regular season beginning Sept. 18.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 2:43 PM.
