NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion men’s soccer suffered its first loss of the 2026 season on Friday night against #4 South Carolina, 2-1. ODU lost its first game of Sun Belt Conference action in front of a season high crowd of 1,286 at the ODU Soccer Complex.
“I’m disappointed for the players tonight,” said ODU head coach Tennant McVea. “We were fantastic in the first half, but the game got away from us for 25 mins in the second. At this level we have to be really disciplined with details and that’s what cost us tonight. We will bounce back and be prepared for William and Mary on Tuesday.”
The Monarchs (7-1, 0-1 SBC) had four shots in the opening 15 minutes and forced USC’s (7-0, 1-0 SBC) Noah Scheidweiler into making a save in the eighth minute. Jason Purks curled a shot towards the bottom corner from the wing but Scheidweiler made the low stop. ODU had four corners in the first 16 minutes which culminated in a delivery by Ludovico Vicini in the 17th minute that curled into the near post’s top corner to give ODU a 1-0 lead.
ODU had one clear opportunity to score to secure an insurance goal after Otu Bisong delivered a cross in the 24th minute to Micah Wayland at the far post. He found the back of the net with a right footed shot, but the decision of a goal was called off after a foul by an ODU player in the box. Even after the decision was given in favor of the Gamecocks, Scheidweiler protested enough to the head referee to earn a yellow for his dissent. Shots by Alessandro Maldonado and Barrett Saul were both stymied away from Gamecock defenders. Bisong had the third chance but his shot was off the mark and out for a goal kick.
South Carolina’s Loic Sany Kong forced ODU’s Alexander Aguilar into making a save and sending the ball away from danger. ODU’s Purks had another chance to score in the 32nd but Scheidweiler was strong again and made the save. Matthew Moffatt had the next chance for the Monarchs in the 38th minute but again Scheidweiler was first to react and make the save.
The Gamecocks had a string of chances in the dying embers of the first half. In the 41st minute Aguilar was called into action to stop a low shot by USC’s Kieran Karp. The ball wasn’t cleared away by ODU’s defenders and South Carolina maintained its pressure. USC’s Mika Habel got the next chance in the 43rd but Aguilar dove to his left to parry the shot away. USC’s final chance of the first half was in the 44th minute. USC’s Kang cut inside on his left foot from the right wing but ODU’s Aguilar made another diving stop on the low driven shot. Both sides couldn’t register another chance and ODU went into the break up 1-0.
Vicini opened the second half with a hard driven shot from outside the box. The defender from Modena, Italy made good contact, but the shot went over the bar and didn’t test Scheidweiler. ODU’s Jake Lane fired an off-target shot in the 52nd before USC got its first chance to score. Kang cut inside on his left foot again and struck the ball low but Aguilar was strong enough to make the stop.
South Carolina found the equalizing goal from a corner kick in the 60th minute. USC’s Cristian Ortiz connected his head onto a cross from Daniel Lang and snuck his header past Aguilar at the near post, 1-1. Two minutes later, Kang scored the goal for the Gamecocks to take its first lead of the night. With another near post corner kick delivery by Lang he found Kang who used his left foot to flick it across goal and into the back of the net to take a 2-1 lead.
The Monarchs’ next chance to score was in the 71st minute but Wayland’s shot was off the mark. ODU had two final shots on target in the final 19 minutes, the first came at the 77th minute mark, Purks cut inside on his right foot and tried to curl the ball around the keeper but Scheidweiler was prepared and didn’t let it go past him. The final chance was from Matthew Moffatt with 30 seconds left to play and didn’t trouble Scheidweiler as he calmly collected the ball as ODU fell for the first time in 2026, 2-1.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs hosts in-state foe William & Mary on Tuesday, September 22 at 6 p.m. at the ODU Soccer Complex.