SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men's soccer team secured their fifth win of the season by a 3-2 margin against USC Upstate on Tuesday night at Snyder Field. The Terriers scored three goals for their second straight game and held on to win despite conceding two goals late in the second half.
First Half
The Terriers pressed Upstate early and began to create chances, with
Bear Rice forcing a save from the Upstate goalkeeper in the opening minutes. Wofford continued to press, and in the 13th minute, center back
Scott Cheevers banged in a header off a corner from
Clemens Astrup to get the scoring started for the Terriers. The two teams began to go back and forth a bit more, with opportunities for the Spartans, but in the 36th minute,
Max Talley rocketed the ball into the back of the net after a great cross from
Sam Case and a tap pass in the box from
Fabian Menendez, putting Wofford up 2-0 going into halftime.
Second Half
The second half started strong for the Terriers, and in the 67th minute Cheevers knocked in his second header of the night off a corner from
Bradley Takamo. After Wofford went up 3-0, the game began to get increasingly physical as Upstate became more desperate, pressing for any chance at a goal. In the 68th minute, Cheevers fouled an Upstate attacker in the box, giving the Spartans a penalty kick, which Upstate midfielder Henry Burt put away to cut Wofford's lead to two. In the 87th minute, Matiwos Rumley scored another Upstate goal, but the Spartans were unable to find another scoring opportunity before the end of the game.
"The game is never done," said head coach
Ryan Osborne when asked about the resilience of the team during the second half. "We keep preaching that to the boys, and we knew Upstate was going to have a rally and momentum at some point in the game, and maybe we rode our luck a few times, but when it counted we put the ball in the net and managed to ride the storm and see out the game and find ourselves another win."
Up Next
On Saturday, September 19, Wofford (5-1-1) will host ETSU at Snyder Field for their third of four straight home games, and their first conference game of the year. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and live updates will be available at woffordterriers.com or @WoffordMSoc on X (formerly Twitter) and @WoffordMsoc on Instagram.
