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4 USC Schedule ^SUFJ^E^ ^T O ■ Women’s soccer vs. Charleston, 7 p.m. L 1 I II I I ■ Volleyball vs. Mississippi, Friday Monday, October 4,1999 ShTcBaniECOCk "Page 9 Fumbles, Defensive Mistakes Lead To 36-10 Loss Rebels fire away at Carolina by David Cloninger Assistant Sports Editor South Carolina football fans finally got to see a cham pionship team Saturday after 14 weeks of losing. However, that team was only present for a 10-minute period during halftime, when USC honored the mem bers of its 1969ACC champion team. For the home fans, this was perhaps the only bright spot of the evening, as USC dropped its 15th consecutive game to the Missis sippi Rebels, 36-10. The loss dropped the Gamecocks to 0-5,0-3 in the Southeastern Conference, and added on to the longest losing streak in NCAA Division I-A. Ole Miss, mean while, cruised to 4-1 (2-1 SEC). Carolina, which has made a reputation for itself this year with its lack of offense and a sterling defense, suf fered several defensive lapses during the game, which allowed Ole Miss’ rushing tandem of Deuce McAllister and Joe Gunn to gain 192 combined yards. Rebel quar terback Romaro Miller had a career day, passing for 129 yards and one touchdown to continue his dominance of SEC quarterbacks in passing statistics. • USC head coach Lou Holtz, sitting with a down trodden look at his press conference, had no answers for his team’s miserable performance. “This is the first time the defense didn’t show up,” Holtz said “I’m frustrated and embarrassed, no doubt about it.” The Gamecocks began the game with promise, hold ing the Rebel offense to a field goal after three straight runs up the middle from the 7-yard line. True fresh man quarterback Mikal Goodman, making his first col legiate start after a knee injury to starter Phil Petty, start ed to impress with an almost immediate 10-yard pass to wide receiver Trevon Mathews to start the game. After another 10-yard strike to receiver Jermale Kel ly, Goodman seemed poised to deliver a fine perfor mance. However, USC’s severely depleted offensive line couldn’t hold up for its leader, allowing him to be sacked on two successive downs for a 17-yard loss and forcing a Courtney Leavitt punt. After the two teams traded possessions, Miller came up with the first big play of the night, throwing a 43-yard bomb to McAllister on the goal line. McAllister dived over the pile on the next play, giving the Rebels a 10-0 lead. USC started its next possession on the Rebel 35-yard line, but its hope of closing the gap was quickly snuffed Rebels see page k> Sean Rayford photo editor Mississippi defenders Keydrick Vincent, Shane Grice and Tremaine Turner, left to right, converge on Carolina freshman punt return er Ryan Brewer, causing a fumble in the second half of the Gamecocks’ 36-10 loss to the Rebels on Saturday. Lady Gamecocks continue hot streak over weekend by Shannon Rooke Staff Writer The Lady Gamecock soccer team con tinued to improve its standing in the NCAA’s Southeast Region and increased its overall record to 8-2 with exciting wins over Furman and N.C. State. The scoreboard showed its first goal Friday when Furman midfielder Sarah Tol lick tallied her fifth goal of the season. USC’s Jennie Ondo returned the favor 15 minutes later, heading the ball into the net off a cross from teammate Mindy Sanders. Three minutes before the halfway point, Furman’s Erin Sims redirected team mate Kaye Brownlee’s shot into the goal. The Gamecocks jogged to the locker room down one goal, 2-1, and ready to make some adjustments. “Coming into the game, we wanted to wait and see what they had for us in the first half, then make the needed adjust ments at halftime,” said Sanders, who fin ished the match with two assists. With only five minutes gone from the clock in the second half, sophomore Melin da Carter received a pass from Ondo, beat two defenders and placed the ball in the bottom right comer of the net. Three min utes later, the Gamecocks were knocked back on their heels again when Furman received a free kick right outside the Game cock goal box. After releasing the kick and fighting for it in the box, the ball landed in the back of the goal, putting the Lady Paladins up, 3-2. When the players walked away for an other kickoff, they realized that senior Gamecock goalkeeper Carrie Warner had n’t gotten up off the ground yet. Para medics were rushed onto the field, and af ter a 13-minute break, Whiner was taken to the hospital for further medical atten tion. Warner’s injury status "wasn’t known at press time. “Looking back and seeing her down really got us going,” Sanders said. “We knew we needed to pick it up, and that was the real turning point, I think.” Just a few minutes after the game was restarted, Ondo came up big for her team once again, shooting another pass from Sanders into the net and making the score 3-3. The teams now faced a 15-minute sudden-death overtime, where the first team to score would win. After 11 minutes of intense play, the game finally ended when Ondo tallied her third goal of the match and seventh on the season. She received the ball at the halfway mark, dribbled around the Paladins’ scat tered defense and placed it into the bot tom right comer of the goal, making the final 4-3. “Wfe knew that they were a very tough, physical team,” Ondo said. “But we knew we’d been there before, and because of that, we stayed calm and put one away.” Kelly had nothing but good things to say about USC’s heart. “All the players played so well,” she said. “Coming into the game, they were ahead in the region, and our team keeps getting thinner and thinner due to injuries.” With the loss, Furman, which came into the game just ahead of USC in the Southeast Region rankings, dropped to 9-2. On Saturday, Carolina won its fifth straight game, 2-0 over N.C. State. In her first collegiate match,backup goalkeeper Carolyn Ortega, recorded four saves on the way to USC’s fifth shutout of the season. Ondo and Morgan McIntyre scored goals for the Lady Gamecocks. Sean Rayford photo editor Senior Jennie Ondo battles a dribbling Furman player for possession. Ondo scored four goals over the weekend in USC’s two wins. The Slate (late games not included) HHHHHMHH# National League Eastern Division W L Pet GB L10 Str Atlanta-x 103 59 .636 - 8-2 W-l New York 95 66 .590 7 3-7 W-2 Philadelphia 76 85 .472 26 6-4 L-2 Montreal 68 93 .422 34 5-5 W-3 Florida 64 98 .396 39 4-6 L-l Central Division Houston 96 65 .596 - 7-3 L-l Cincinnati 95 66 .590 1 4-6 W-l Pittsburgh 78 82 .487 17.5 4-6 L-2 St. Louis 74 86 .463 21.5 3-7 L-2 Milwaukee 74 86 .463 21.5 6-4 W-2 Chicago 67 94 .416 29 7-3 W-2 West Division Arizona-x 99 62 .615 - 8-2 W-l San Francisco 86 75 .534 13 4-6 W-2 Los Angeles 77 84 .478 22 6-4 L-l San Diego 74 87 .460 25 3-7 L-l Colorado 71 90 .441 28 3-7 L-2 Note: Cincinnati and New York are tied for the wild-card spot. X-clinched divisional title z-clinched wild- card spot American League Eastern Division W L Pet GB L10 Str New York-x 98 63 .609 - 6-4 W-3 Boston-z 93 68 .578 5 5-5 W-2 Toronto 83 78 .516 15 6-4 W-2 Baltimore 78 83 .484 20 4-6 L-3 Tampa Bay 68 93 .422 30 3-7 L-4 Central Division Cleveland-x 97 64 .602 - 6-4 W-2 Chicago 75 86 .466 22 7-3 W-4 Detroit 69 92 .429 28 8-2 W-l Kansas City 64 97 .398 33 4-6 L-l Minnesota 63 97 .394 33.5 2-8 L-8 West Division Texas-x 95 66 .590 - 6-4 L-2 Oakland 86 75 .534 9 3-7 L-l Seattle 79 82 .491 16 4-6 W-l Anaheim 69 92 .429 26 7-3 W-4 Weekend’s Top News • Baseball: Astros clinch Central while Mets stand half game ahead of Reds; McGwire hits 65th HR while Sosa nails 63rd • NFL: Rams go to 3-0 for first time this decade, Broncos fall to 0-4 as Terrell Davis hurts knee • Clemson QB Brandon Streeter out for season with broken collarbone • Mike Modano and Danyl Sydor of NHL champion Dallas both out indefinitely • Jeff Gordon wins NAPA 500 without regular crew chief Ray £vemham Charlie Wallace Senior Writer ‘Win? Are you serious?’ Fifteen in a row. For 15 games, I have left Williams-Brice Stadi um angry. For 15 games, I have gotten inter my car and driven like a madman through traffic while listening to the radio highlights and statistics of USC’s latest loss. It was driving home Saturday night when I realized that I had foigotten what it was like to leave Williams-Brice with a smile. For 15 straight football Satur days, I've either strained while lis tening on the radio, watched in agony on television or suffered in the stands and the press box. In a gradual but steady period of time, I’ve also foigotten what it’s like to win. Carolina’s 36-10 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday night, however, was different from the rest. For the first time this year, USC didn’t hang around for most of the game to give fans a false sense of hope as it did in the first four contests this year. After Teddy Salters’ fumble and the subse quent Rebel touchdown to make the score 17-0, the game was pretty much decided. However, the Gamecocks showed that all-encompassing dis play of false hope again when An drew Pinnock and company marched right back down the field and barreled into the end zone to cut the lead to 10. At that point, I closed my eyes and listened: The sound of 80,000 people cheering loudly for a touch down was a feeling I wasn’t used to, but somewhere from my youth, I was able to remember what it was like. Suddenly, USC had the fans in a frenzy with a sense of confidence that it can score and because the de fense is so good this year, the Game cocks have a chance to win the game. With 23 seconds left in the half, Rebel quarterback Romaro Miller lofted a pass into the end zone that wide receiver Jamie Armstrong somehow wrestled away from USC comerback Sheldon Brown, much to the shock of the partisan Carolina crowd and me. Then I realized that this was USC playing, and I was wel comed back into the real world by the evil power that controls Carolina athletics. A sense of normalcy had returned. A colleague of mine then whis pered: “You didn’t actually think we were going to come back, did you?” Sadly, though, I did. Carolina football has that effect on its fans. Before the game Saturday night, I can’t count the number of friends of mine who came up to me and asked what I thought about the game after telling me that they thought that we had a shot against Ole Miss. I usually said something to the effect of “I have no clue” or “I think we _i_” 11 11^111 W UV1V IV UV U. One would think that after 20 years of living in this city, I would have had enough sense to have said, “Win? Are you serious?” That just goes to show that Carolina fans are either filled with overwhelming con fidence no matter what the situation, or just stupid and living in our own little make-believe world. In a state where the two major political topics are little machines that simulate poker and a 130-year old battle flag that flies from the Statehouse, is the fact that USC fans are like this surprising? Let’s face it, we live in a very stubborn state. And Carolina fans are no exception. We can’t just admit to ourselves that our football team is not good. But then again, I want someone to show me another college football program that packs 80,000 fans into one of the nicest stadiums with one of the nicest press boxes week after week for a team that is on a 15-game losing streak. One thing is for sure, though. If I’m in a foxhole, I want a Gamecock fan with me. USC is proof that loyalty isn’t taught, it’s groomed. Charlie Wallace writes a column for The Gamecock on Mondays. He can be reached at: gamecocksports@hotmail.com.