Men's Soccer Visits South Carolina Saturday For Sun Belt Clash

MATCH #11
WHO: ODU (5-0-5, 2-0-1) at South Carolina (3-5-2, 1-1-1)
WHERE: Eugene E. Stone III Stadium – Columbia, S.C.
WHEN:  7 p.m. - Saturday
SERIES RECORD: ODU leads 10-5-1
LAST MATCHUP: Oct. 19, 2022 – ODU 1, South Carolina 0
STREAM: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: here
  
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men's soccer team jumps back into the heat of Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday night when they visit South Carolina for a 7 p.m. kick.
 
Old Dominion (5-0-5, 2-0-1) heads south after a 1-0 win over Campbell to close out non-conference play on Tuesday night. Karan Mandair hit his fourth penalty kick goal of the season at 10:43 of the first half and a stellar defense made that tally stand up. Michael Statham recorded his fourth clean sheet of the season with three saves.
 
South Carolina (3-5-2, 1-1-1) also closed out non-conference play on Tuesday night with a 1-0 win over visiting Jacksonville. Adam Luckhurst scored at 17:22 off a feed by Martin Yahia and Brant Zulauf made that stand with five saves in the home win.
 
ODU leads the all-time series 10-5-1 after knocking off South Carolina 1-0 on Oct. 19, 2022 as Louis Beckett scored off a Tristan Jenkins feed 4:33 into the contest and the Monarchs made that hold up.
 
ABOUT ODU
Mandair leads the team in goals scored with four and shares the team lead in points with eight. William Arnesen joins him with three goals and two assists for eight points. Jonas Schmalbach had three goals and one assist with seven points.
 
In the net, Michael Statham has four clean sheets this year and has an .800 save percentage this season and a goals against average of 0.900.
 
The win over Campbell continues the longest unbeaten streak to start a season since 2003 when they won their first 14 matches.
 
With another tie, the Monarchs will match the Sun Belt Conference single season record for most ties with six. Three teams share that mark, including the 1990 Old Dominion Monarchs who finished 8-6-6.
 
Mandair now has matched Ryan Condotta for most penalty kicks made in a season with his fourth on Tuesday. Condotta was also 4-for-4 in 2015 and both have made all five career attempts.
 
ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA
Luckhurst leads the team in goals scored (3) and points (6), while Ethan Dekel Dats follow him with two goals and four points.
 
The Gamecocks have been outscored 13-7 through their first 10 matches.
 
In goal, Ben Alexander has started nine matches with a 1.44 goals against average and a save percentage of .717. He has recorded two clean sheets.
 
NEXT UP
ODU will return home for an October 14 matchup with Central Florida at 7 p.m.