South Carolina men’s soccer adds four more players for 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Via University of South Carolina) – South Carolina men’s soccer has added four new student-athletes to its 2016 roster, head coach Mark Berson announced Friday. Incoming freshmen Luca Mayr, Julian Veen Uldal, Keegan Kullby and junior transfer Inaki Aguirre, round out a class of eight total newcomers joining the team for the 2016 season.

Mayr, a forward from Steyr, Austria, comes to South Carolina after playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. He made 19 appearances for Austria’s Youth National Teams, where he scored four goals as a winger and forward. He also represented Austria in the 2013 UEFA Eurpoean U-17 Championship and the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Veen Uldal, a midfielder from Stavanger, Norway, played in his home country’s premier competitive league, participating in the 2014 Norwegian Football Cup. He also spent time with his hometown club in the Norwegian Fourth Division. Additionally, he played 36 games with the Norwegian National Team U-15, U-16, U-17, U-18 and U-19s.

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Kullby, a 5-8 midfielder from Lake Forest High in Lake Forest, Ill., was an IHSA All-Sectional Honorable Mention recipient and North Suburban Conference All-Conference Team selection. He scored eight goals and tallied eight assists in 22 games his senior season. A member of Libertyville FC 1974, he helped his club team to a sixth-place overall finish in the USYSL in 2013-14 after finishing as the MRL runner-up in 2012-13. He also lettered in wrestling in high school, while posting a 4.0 GPA.

Aguirre, a midfielder from Madrid, Spain, comes to South Carolina as a transfer from Endicott College in Madrid. He was a member of Getafe CF’s Youth C club and also had a stint with Blackburn Rovers FC in England. He attended the Atletico Madrid youth academy and was selected as the best midfielder of the International Children’s Soccer Tournament of Vila Verde, Portugal, in 2009 where the whole school Atletico finished fourth. He is the son of former Mexico National Team coach Javier Aguirre and is classified as a redshirt freshman.

The quartet joins freshmen Campbell Gibson, Evan Collins and Jeffrey Lu and transfer Christoffer Wallander-Ianev as the newcomers for Berson’s squad in 2016. Wallander-Ianev, a University of Maryland transfer, joined the team in January and went through spring training with the Gamecocks.

Carolina will begin its season with an Aug. 15 exhibition on the road at No. 8 North Carolina. The Gamecocks host a home exhibition on Aug. 18 against Winthrop before regular-season play begins Fri., Aug. 26, with a home date against Clemson.