COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina (2-0-0) overcame a man and goal deficit with two minutes remaining to tie the game against No. 25 Clemson (1-1-0) before sophomore Koty Millard clinched it with the Gamecocks' second golden goal of the season in the 103rd minute, handing South Carolina the 2-1 win over its archrival at Stone Stadium on Tuesday night in front of 3,555 fans.
The Gamecocks swung the momentum in the last 10 minutes of regulation, putting pressure on Clemson's defense. In the 82nd minute, Clemson's Ara Amirkhanian drew his second caution of the match, sending him off after the Gamecocks had played the previous 24 minutes down a man when junior Ryan Arambula drew his second yellow in the 58th. With three minutes left to play, South Carolina sophomore forward Eli Dent had his shot deflect off a Clemson defender's hand inside the 18, setting up a penalty kick that Knudsen sent into the net to knot the score at 1-1.
Arambula's second caution in a 14-minute span gave the Tigers the advantage for a while, and they used it wisely, shooting high-quality looks that the Gamecock defense kept turning away. In the 66th, Gamecock sophomore goalkeeper Marco Velez stopped two point-blank shots to keep the match scoreless. But two minutes later, a Clemson attacker had a ball near the end line inside the box, and a Gamecock defender tried a tackle that was whistled for a foul, putting the Tigers on the penalty spot. Amirkhanian took the shot and got it past Velez to give Clemson the 1-0 lead in the 68th.
The contest, delayed by 1:39 due to thunderstorms in the Columbia area, had a number of fouls and a total of seven cards distributed, five to Clemson and two to South Carolina.
Thanks to the great home crowd who braved poor weather and helped power us to OT win over Clemson tonight#gamecocks
— Mark Berson (@MarkBersonSC) September 3, 2014
