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GAME SCHEDULE WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Florida in SEC Tournament in Oxford, Miss., 3 p.m. Thursday CONTACT I IS MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Team Nike (exhibition), 7:30 p.m. Thursday MEN’S TENNIS at ITA National Indoors in Dallas, Thursday-Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Athletes in Action (exhibition), E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com 7 p.m. Friday #• USC recovering from loss BY KYLE ALMOND THE GAMECOCK USC head coach Lou Holtz didn’t spend his entire time Tuesday giving his team lessons in the passing game. He was giving them civics lessons instead. “We passed out ballots and had our players vote for governor and senator,” Holtz said. “I talked to them about the obligation they had to vote and the importance of aligning themselves with people who had the same core values as they did.” “It’s discouraging when you hear that voter turnout is low. People have a responsibility to elect their leaders and take an ac tive role in supporting their gov ernment.” After voting, it was back to business for the Gamecocks, who are preparing for this Saturday’s game against Arkansas. Team meetings started at noon, and USC had an extensive prac tice under wet conditions at the practice fields. There, it was back to the pass ing game, which is in shambles af ter last Saturday’s losg to Tennessee. Carolina only com pleted five passes in the game, for 45 yards, and key injuries can take some of the blame for that. Ryan Brewer, who plays tail back, wide receiver and punt re turner, is still out with a sprained ankle, and he is joined on the in jury list by receivers Andrea Gause (ankle) and Michael Ages (shoulder). With a decimated receiving corps, Holtz has moved Matthew Thomas back on offense. Thomas started the season at wide receiver and was shifted over to corner back after struggling to hold on to the ball. “Matthew had been playing well at corner, but with Ryan, Michael Ages and Andrea Gause “The dentist called today and asked me how my bone was because they had to rip off part of it, but it didn't hurt half as much as the (Tennessee) game.” LOU HOLTZ use FOOTBALL HEAD COACH out, we are running out of people at wide receiver,” Holtz said. “We knew we were facing some problems at comerback at the be ginning of the year, and that's why we moved Matthew Thomas over there to begin with. Now, the wide receiver position has been deci mated, so we need some immedi ate help there.” USQ’s injury troubles have clearly frustrated Holtz. “I don't think I've ever had a team where we’ve had to plug holes like □ we've had to with this one,” he said. “Some years, noth ing seems to fit.” The Tennessee loss was a blow to USC’s postseason hopes. Carolina (5 4, 3-3 SEC) still Matthew need one more win has'been to be bowl-eligible, moved was a diffi back to cult loss,” Holtz receiver said. “Any time because of y0u want to win injuries. something so bad ... and you don't, it is very tough.” “Yesterday, I went to the dentist and had three teeth capped and one pulled. It was a 4-hour ordeal. The dentist called today and asked me how my bone was because they had to rip off part of it, but it didn't hurt half as much as the game.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY TRAVIS LYNN/THE GAMECOCK James Adkisson is one of the few Carolina receivers that is healthy now. Ryan Brewer, Michael Ages and Andrea Gause have all suffered injuries over the past two weeks, and it has translated into problems in the passing game. I || R I MM I Kilt II [ini.lP II , PURL I. .-.Hull, Jess Julin, a senior midfielder for USC, is also captain of Finland’s national team. The Gamecocks open SEC Tournament play Thursday in Oxford, Miss., against Florida. Setting the example Senior leaders steady the women's soccer team USC vs. Florida SEC Tournament First Round 3 p.m. Thursday Oxford, Miss. BY HOLLI ARMSTRONG THE GAMECOCK As a group, they have been through a lot. Most of them were members of a successful 14-6 campaign, and all experienced the horrific 4-16 slump that ensued. Then the coach that recruited them was out, and a new coach with a new philosophy entered the mix. That is the past. Tomorrow, touting a 13-5-2 record, Gamecock seniors Jess Julin, Becky Leeper, Melinda “Bullet” Carter and Morgan McIntyre will lead the USC women’s soccer team out of the SEC cellar and into its first tournament berth since 1999. “This season has been very important to our seniors, and they have made sure everyone has stayed on track,” head coach Shelley Smith said. “The entire team has followed them and done the work they needed to win games.” All four seniors set the stan dard. Take Julin, who is Carolina’s most consistent and stable mid field performer, as well as cap tain of the Finland women’s na tional team. The All-SEC per former can be counted on to run the entire 90 minutes, and more if necessary. She is a fitness ma chine. “The day before a game, we have to make sure she doesn’t run too much,” Carter said. Julin’s actions spurred the whole team to pound the pave ment between workouts and practices. Leeper believes that Julin’s work ethic created an environ ment in which “everyone start ed taking pride in themselves by trying to get better.” As co-captains, Carter and Leeper sought to unite the team. But the pair credits the entire senior class with keeping the team together. Leeper, a centr.al defender, admits that her leadership role was difficult at first. But Smith “They have made sure everyone has stayed on track. The entire team has followed them and done the work they needed to win games.” SHELLEY SMITH use WOMEN'S SOCCER HEAD COACH, ON HER SENIORS knew the players would feel comfortable turning to Leeper for advice. “She leads by example,” Smith said. “Becky has been the one that has kept the defense to gether, and she gives a complete effort every game.” Leeper devotes that same ef fort to her studies, with a 3.89 grade-point average in chemical engineering and demonstrating that it is possible to succeed on the field and in the classroom. “It is tough balancing the chemical engineering, which is difficult, while playing a colle giate sport at the same time,” Leeper said. “It’s a lot of work and not a lot of sleep.” But sleep is something the en tire team has sacrificed. In ♦ SOCCER, SEE PAGE 13 BRIEFLY Cross country team 11th at SEC meet The USC cross country team came home with an llth-place finish in Monday’s SEC Championships in Gainesville, Fla. Arkansas ran away with its fifth straight title, placing all sev en runners in the top 17. RazorbackChristin Wurth won the 6-kilometer race with a time of 21 minutes, 4 seconds. USC sophomore Jenny Lake wa^ the top finisher for Carolina, placing 24th with a time of22:43. Gamecock senior Kinsey Eschenburg placed 61st with a time of 24:36. Freshmen Shay Shelton and Lauren Paige came in 71st and 73rd. USC will head back into ac tion Nov. 16 to compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional in Greenville. Golfers finish third in Hawaii tourney Led by freshman Eirik Johansen, the USC men’s golf team finished third at the Turtle Bay Intercollegiate in Kahuku, Hawaii, on Tuesday. The Gamecocks fired a three round score of 863. UNLV won the team title with a 7-under 857. Johansen, who helped USC post its highest finish of the fall, shot a 1-under par 215 (72-72-71) to tie for fourth Johansen place overall. Carolina’s Michael Maness struggled i,n the first round but recorded "two 70s after that to tie for 10th. West Streib and Alex Hamilton shot 220, tying for 16th. Sophomore Martin Rominger rounded out the five-man squad in 22nd place after shooting 221 (71-73-77). The tournament was the last fall event for the Gamecocks, who will resume play Feb. 10. Hufford leads way for equestrian team The USC equestrian team traveled to Marion, AjJa., this past weekend for two Western competitions at Judson College, and it finished fourth on Saturday and third on Sunday. Junior Kyra Hufford led the team with wins both days in Intermediate Horsemanship. On Sunday, the team won five classes. Sophomore Kerrie Reeves and freshman Courtney Borton both won their sections of Open Horsemanship. Along with Hufford in Intermediate, fresh man Ashleigh Collins won her section as well. Senior Margy Myers won Beginner Horsemanship. Kilborn talk show epitome of weak KYLE ALMOND GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Gamecock tribute was one big disappointment. What a waste of my time. That’s what I was saying after I stayed up last week to watch Craig Kilbom’s late-night talk show. “the Late, Late Show” was sup posed to promote CBS’ college foot ball coverage by giving tribute to USC, the host team of the station’s SEC game of the week. Instead, it just made everyone fall asleep—or turn the channel to Brooke Burke. Now I know it sounds a little ungrateful to knock a national show that pays even the slight est attention to us. But with that lame excuse for publicity, I wish Kilborn and Co. hadn’t both erea. For starters, there was abso lutely no emotion out of Kilbom whenever he plugged the Gamecocks. Maybe he’s peeved that CBS makes him plug a team every week; I don’t know. But his lack of interest clearly showed by his monotone voice and “who cares?” demeanor. And the show itself didn’t make us look special, either. Kilbom had a Gamecock mug that you wouldn’t be able to recognize un less you went to USC. There was a Kenny Irons (Derek Watson?) jer sey hanging on a far wall, out of the camera’s view and shown once during the broadcast. They showed an autographed picture of Cocky for two seconds. And when they came back from commercial, they showed a clip of Irons’ meaning less touchdown scamper against Mississippi State. Shove in one bad joke about our degrees coming Kilborn with Wendy’s coupons (good one, Craig) and ran dom, wasteful clips from sisters wanting to get an early jump on political campaigning, and it added up to a disappointing por trayal of USC. I guess I was expecting too much. Wasn’t Kilbom’s desk sup posed to be covered from top to bot tom with USC stuff? Wasn’t there supposed to be a video of Chuck Eidson and Ro Howell giving a tour of the Carolina Center? Now that would have been priceless. If CBS really wanted to promote the game within Kilbom’s show, they should have tried a little harder. Make Kilborn wear the Irons jersey. Fly in Lou Holtz or Cocky to do the monologue. Show “The Fade.” Bring in President Sorensen for a Q&A. Just do some thing cool. I should have been able to guess that the show was going to be weak just by looking at the guests on the show — Frankie Muniz, aka the annoying little bastard from “Malcolm in the Middle,” and “comedian” Graham Elwood. How much do you want to bet that Florida and Alabama would have had better guests than that? By the way, did anyone laugh at Elwood’s routine? I swear that was the worst comedic perfor mance I’ve ever seen. I felt bad for the guy as I watched his career tumble right in front of my eyes, and I cringed at each punchline like it was a Dondrial Pinkins in terception. All in all, it was just a boring show — there’s no other way to put it. Kilborn’s trademark through out his talk-show career has been his “5 Questions” segment, where he puts his top guest on the spot and asks them random trivia. Well, I wish I could take over for Kilborn and give him my own “5 Questions.” 1. Couldn’t you have found some ♦ ALMOND, SEEPAGE 13