South Carolina United Bantams Host USL2/USLW Doubleheader

Forrest Wimberly
Jun 8
3 min read

NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com

South Carolina United Bantams Host Doubleheader:

USL2 Men Defeat Port City 3-0 while USL W-League Women Slip 0-2 to Wake FC

It was a South Carolina United Bantams doubleheader last Saturday night at the “Monti” as Port City FC was in town for a USL 2 match and Wake FC was in town for a USL W-League match.

The Bantams men won 3-0 as Kemp Wilson scored a second half brace to lead the hosts to the 3-0 victory. The Bantams women created plenty of chances just couldn’t find a way past Wake FC keeper Caitlyn Draper in the 0-2 loss.

The double match days at the Southeastern Freight Lines Soccer Complex (the “Monti” due to being located off Monticello Road) are a South Carolina soccer fan’s dream with both matches being played simultaneously on side-by-side fields, giving the fans non-stop soccer action. When one game pauses, the other game right next door provides some immediate soccer action to fill in the gaps.

The Men’s game looked to be heading into the halftime break knotted 0-0, but a corner kick in first-half stoppage time was headed in by Henry Burt to send the Bantams into the intermission with the 1-0 lead. The Port City halftime talk was a fiery one that echoed across the complex, as this lack of closing out the half and conceding goals right at the halftime break was a recurring theme for the Port City men this season, based on the halftime talk.

Then as if predicted by the Port City halftime talk, the Bantam’s Kemp Wilson scored in the 47th minute unleashing an “absolute missile” of a shot as described by the Bantam’s PA announcer. Kemp blasted his shot into the near post, upper 90 to the complete shock of the Port City keeper. The kung-fu-kick-on-the -corner-flag celebration put the hosts at ease and in a free-flowing mode of attack the rest of the match.

Port City tried to work their way back into the game and seemed to get a boost of confidence in the 70th minute after a defender scrambled the ball away from danger with a goal-mouth clearance. But, this new run of play for Port City ended just minutes later in the 73th minute as Kemp Wilson completed his brace. Wilson timed his run to perfection as he flirted with the Port City offside line as a perfectly weighted pass put the Bantam’s forward in 1v1 with the Port City keeper for the calm low finish into the open net. 3-0 is how the match ended, earning the Bantams their third win in a row.

The Women’s game saw Wake FC’s Leah Carter score a goal in each half to provide the distance between the two sides in the 2-0 Wake FC victory. The Bantams created numerous chances but just could not apply the final, decisive touch required to finish the play in front of the Wake FC goal. Several substitutions in the second half provided some spark to the Bantam’s attack, but the Wake FC defense stayed strong centered around Draper in the goal and center back Ashlynn Kulha who controlled the Wake defensive third of the field all match long.

With the results, the Bantams women now hold a 1W-4L-0T (3 points) record and are in fifth place in the South Atlantic USLW table. The Bantams men now hold a 3W-2L-0T (9 points) record and sit in fifth place in the South Atlantic USL2 table.

The Bantams are back in action this coming Wednesday, June 10 as they again host a double match day at the “Monti” in Columbia. The men will host Tobacco Road while the women will host Port City. Kickoff for both matches is at 7 PM.