The South Carolina men's soccer program has now reached 500 wins. Mark Berson has been there for every one of them.
The only head coach in the history of the South Carolina men's soccer program, Berson came to USC after serving as the head coach at The Citadel in 1977 where he went 11-5. Berson was lured to Columbia in 1978 by athletics director Jim Carlen who was also the Gamecock head football coach.
Berson literally started the program from scratch and his first win in 1978 was a season-opening 12-0 shutout of Presbyterian College. Number 500 came Wednesday night in a 3-0 victory over Furman, 41 years to the day after the first win over PC which started it all.
Tucker Monheimer scored the first of his two goals in the 31 minute mark of the match after an assist from Luca Mayr who would connect on a penalty kick in the 44th minute to give the Gamecocks a 2-0 halftime lead. It was the first match of the season for Mayr who has been coming back from injury.
In the second half, Carolina extended the lead wiith Andrew Halloran and Brian Banahan assisting Monheimer who scored for the second time to close out the scoring.
Berson has 511 career wins, but he says the 500th win at South Carolina is special because he can share it with everyone who helped build the program.
"Yeah, it's a great feeling. The 500 wins belongs to so many players here. So many coaches and people who helped make the program a success through the years," Berson said.
"It belongs to all these fans. What an amazing crowd support we've had, not only this year, but throughout the years. It belongs to the Carolina community. It belongs to the University of South Carolina. It belongs to our players and our staff for many years. I'm excited to be, just happen to be the guy who's doing this right now. But it's a great thing for our school."
Berson will shoot for his 501st win at USC and his 512th overall Sunday when the team plays at UCF.