As we draw another day closer to August, it means that South Carolina Gamecocks sports will officially be back, especially with both Men's and Women's soccer starting up in a couple of weeks. Regarding the Men's soccer team, the Gamecocks begin their season with an exhibition game against the N.C. State Wolfpack on Aug. 9 in Raleigh, NC. Their season opener will be on Thursday, August 21, in Charleston, SC, against the College of Charleston Cougars. Their first big test game will come on August 26 against the Clemson Tigers in Clemson for an early Palmetto Bowl showdown. Their home opener at Stone Stadium will be on August 29 against the USC Upstate Spartans.
After finishing 10-5-2 last season with a 5-4 Sun Belt Conference (SBC) record, the Gamecocks aim to take the next step in 2025. They will have midfielder Ethan Ballek returning for his junior season. The Colorado native was second on the Gamecocks in 2024 with nine goals and had five assists after playing in all 17 games last season. He had 23 shots on goal after taking 50 shots, giving him a .460 SOG%. His shooting percentage (S%) was .180% last season. It'll be interesting to see how he performs since the Gamecocks don't have a leading scorer in Harrison Myring this season.
The next biggest contributor returning for the Gamecocks is midfielder Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez. The sophomore from Knoxville, TN had four goals and five assists in 2024. He had 18 SOG on 33 shots, giving him a .545 SOG% and a .121 S%. It looks like Velazquez-Lopez and Balleck will be the mainstays at midfield after both players went second and third in scoring for the Gamecocks last season. Both guys also played, and started, in all 17 games in 2024. They will be the anchors in the transition game and be big contributors in scoring.
Gamecock Nation, thank you!! Thank you to the 𝟒𝟗,𝟒𝟎𝟕 of you that showed out this season! Because of you, we led @NCAASoccer in attendance for the 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙙 straight season.#WEareCarolina pic.twitter.com/bR4kKZwn48
— South Carolina Men's Soccer (@GamecockMSoccer) November 15, 2024
The Gamecocks will have a familiar face back in goal for them in 2025. They will have sophomore keeper Filip Versterre manning the line once again. The Denmark native started all 17 games last season, finishing with a 10-5-2 record, while having five shutouts in the process. Versterre had a 1.12 goals against average (GAA) after allowing 19 goals in 17 games for the Gamecocks. His 57 saves gave him a .750 save percentage (SV%) in 2024, and the hope is to see the number be raised to .800% in 2025, along with a sub-1.00 GAA.
What makes the 2025 season exciting for the Gamecocks Men's soccer team is that they will be striving to set the leading attendance number for the fourth consecutive season. In 2024, the Gamecocks had 49,407 people attend their games at Stone Stadium, making them lead all of NCAA soccer three years running. It's a tradition like no other at Stone Stadium, and the Gamecocks look to build on that momentum in 2025. Could we be seeing a huge season in the SBC for USC?