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^ a THE GAMECOCK * Friday, September 5,2003 7 " GAME SCHEDULE rnATTAPT TTQ MEN’S SOCCER vs. Richmond in Charleston, 5 p.m. L<UiN li\vj 1 Uu CROSS COUNTRY at the USC Invitational, 6:30 p.m. c._WOMEN'S SOCCER vs. Charleston Southern, 7 p.m. Story ideas? Questions? Comments? imMIV..M ... .. r. VOLLEYBALL vs. Michigan State at Carolina Classic, 7 p.m. E~nrail us at gatnecocksports(^.hot?nail.cojn matd ai ■ \r* .n on o * j ° ^ FOOTBALL vs. Virginia, 12:30 p.m. Saturday USC seeks vengeance on Virginia PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Dondrial Pinkins attempts a pass against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday. Pinkins will face a tough UVA defense this week. Carolina offense looks to improve at home against No. 15 Cavaliers Williams-Brice Stadium BY JOEL WALLACE THE GAMECOCK There are a lot of unknowns surrounding Saturday’s football game between USC (1-0) and the No. 15 Virginia Cavaliers (1-0), who defeated the Gamecocks 34 21 last season. After a slim victory over the lowly Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns last Saturday, the Gamecocks were left with sever al questions that need to be an swered if they want to pass the test presented by a solid Cavalier football team. USC assistant head coach Skip Holtz knows the Gamecocks will have to elevate their game a great deal in order to compete with highly ranked Virginia. “The biggest improvement a team makes is from game one to game two, and we will need to make huge strides,” he said. USC head coach Lou Holtz knows that perceptions can be de ceiving, and the Gamecock foot ball team that 82,227 fans saw last Saturday is not the team he sees every day in practice. “I think we come out of that game and realize that nothing is as good as it seems and nothing is as bad as it seems,” Holtz said. “Reality falls somewhere in be tween. I don’t think we are as bad on offense as we appeared to be, and I know we are not as good on defense as we appeared to be at times.” Another question mark con cerning Saturday’s game will fo cus on the absence of the Cavaliers’ injured Heisman hope ful, quarterback Matt Schaub. “The issue is: he’s not going to play this week, we all know that,” Virginia head coach A1 Groh said. “So our fo cus is on getting the team that we have to play in that gahie ready to go.” Backup quarterback Anthony Martinez, a redshirt freshman, played well enough in his debut to lead the team to a 27-0 viqtory over Duke in relief of Schaub. Virginia dominated ACC rival Duke from the beginning of the game, with UVA's first two scor ing drives covering 73 yards and 68 yards, respectively. Martinez completed the 68-yard touchdown drive, thanks in part to his 39-yard pass completion to wide receiver Art Thomas. That play set up run ning back Wali Lundy's two-yard touchdown run. Lundy was a ma jor asset for Virginia in the game, gaining 88 yards on 21 carries. Martinez finished the day by com pleting six of his 15 passing at tempts for 76 yards. Groh wants to focus on the vic tory heading into Saturday’s •contest. “I thought the most significant thing was that he brought his team home,” Groh said. “When he went into the game, it was 3-0, and when the game ended, it was 27-0. He was the pilot when 24 of those points were scored, and that’s a significant thing for a guy in his first game.” Although Martinez led his team to victory, he remains untested, having completed only six of his 15 passing attempts in a game that was never really in question. With such an inexperi enced young quarterback at the helm, expect the Cavaliers to rely heavily on running the ball be hind their talented offensive line. “Their offensive line is huge and very well coached,” Lou Holtz said. “They look like a pro offen sive line even though many of them are sophomores. They are all big, strong and have great lat eral movement and protect the passer very well. They are mammoth.” The Gamecocks will have an other crack at the Virginia de fense Saturday, against whom they scored 21 points despite los ing six fumbles last year. Virginia, however, appears ready to accept the challenge. “They have nine starters back on defense and are even bigger, bet ter and stronger than they were when we played them last year,” Skip Holtz said. “Chris Canty is dif ficult to prepare for because he plays on.the outside and inside of the line. He is big, strong, power ful and athletic and can make plays from any position on the line.” Injury questions surrounding Gamecock line backers Ricardo Hurley and Lance Laury have be come a little clear er. Hurley is ex pected to dress and will be avail able to play, while Laury Laury could see his first start of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium, and the game will be televised on Jefferson-Pilot Sports. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Volleyball to take on «two ranked opponents i BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC volleyball team will i open its home season this week [ end by taking on two familiar r foes at the Carolina Classic on / Sept. 5-7. The Gamecocks will face No. 25 Michigan State (3-0), whom USC took on early last year, and No. 13 North Carolina (3-0), who sent the Gamecocks packing at last year’s NCAA Tournament. USC (1-2) is coming off a ^ross-country trip at the Holiday Tournament in Los Angeles, nosing to ranked opponents Southern Cal and Northern Iowa before knocking off Ball State. Carolina opened up last sea son against Michigan State at a tournament in East Lansing, Mich. The Gamecocks beat Oakland and Georgetown easily before fac ing the Spartans. Michigan State defeated USC in four games, handing Carolina its first loss. The Spartans are returning the favor by coming to Columbia this year. This season, MSU returns 11 letter winners from last season’s ^fe-12 squad that finished No. 22. ^Kie Spartans made it to the NCAA Regional Semifinals in 2002 but lost to eventual-champi on Southern Cal. With five starters back, MSU has already started the season by winning the Maryland Invitational Championship on Aug. 29-30. The team took down Villanova, Tennessee and Maryland, with junior Kim Schram taking tournament MVP honors. Schram recorded a ca reer-high 32 kills against the Vols, and Nikki Coloson, who was also named to the all-tour nament team, added 74 assists in the win. The North Carolina Tar Heels, USC’s opponent Sunday, are also coming off an NCAA Tournament season in 2002 where the team reached the Sweet 16 before falling to Hawaii, finishing with a 32-4 record. The Gamecocks lost to North Carolina last year in the NCAA Tournament in a four-game match. It was the second straight time USC lost to the Tar Heels in the NCAAs. Carolina’s Niece Curry led the Gampcocks with 19 kills in the loss. UNC also returns 11 letter winners and won the GlaxoSmithKline UNC Volley ball Classic on Aug. 29-30. The Tar Heels defeated Oregon, Temple and James Madison with junior Molly Pyles receiv ing the tournament MVP award. Pyles recorded 38 kills and 20 digs, while junior Katie Wright and senior Aletha Green made the all-tournament team as well. UNC head coach Joe Sagula said he thinks his team will have its hands full when it comes to Columbia. “We have a lot of respect for the South Carolina program,” Sagula said. “They are such a competitive team and they al ways bring the best out of our team. I hope we bring out the best in them, too. I always look forward to it as an intense match.” Wright also thinks the Tar Heels must play more physically to compete with both squads. “I think Michigan State and South Carolina are a lot bigger teams so we need to hit with in tention and around the block,” Wright said. “We need to contin ue to serve strong to get them out of their systems.” The match against Michigan State is set to begin at 7 p.m. Friday, and the UNC match fol lows on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The Spartans and the Tar Heels face off Saturday at 2 p.m., with all matches taking place at the Volleyball Competition Facility. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com SPORTS CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Brad Wes Charies Adam Shawn Tony The Gamecock’s readers and Senkiw Wolfe Tomlinson Beam Rourk Keener staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Managing Page Reader of with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Designer the Week weekend’s games. (Rankings (®'4) (8-2) (8-2) (9-1) (8-2) (5-5) are from The Associated Press.) 1 Oklahoma at Alabama Oklahoma Alabama Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma 21 Florida at 3 Miami_Miami_Miami _ Miami Florida Miami_Miami 17 Auburn at Georgia Tech Auburn Ga. Tech Auburn Auburn Auburn Auburn 13 LSU at Arizona LSU LSU LSU • LSU LSU LSU Marshall at 12 Tennessee^ Tenn. lenn._ lenn. Tenn. Tenn._Tenn. Maryland at 11 Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. «sh. St. at 19 Notre Dame N. Dame N. Dame N. Dame N. Dame N. Dame N. Dame LA at 24 Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado UCLA Furman at Clemson _Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Virginia at USC USC USC Virginia USC USC Virginia 17-14 24-20 27-17 21-14 21-7 24-7 SPORTS CHALLENGE’S FIRST-WEEK OUTLOOK: Managing Editor Adam Beam won the first week’s Sports Challenge and hopes to continue his winning ways this week. Miquel Jacobs, the reader of the week, started the readers out in a hole, finishing at .500. Sports Editor Brad Senkiw had a rough outing but looks to improve, while the assistant, Wes Wolfe, tied designer Justin Bajan and Editor in Chief Charles Tomlinson for a respectable record. Be sure to keep up with this week’s games and send your picks on Thursday. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you're picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want. FURMAN 1 - USG 0 PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Alisson Jarrow fights off a Furman defender as Erica Bowie runs in to assist her in the 1-0 loss to the Paladins. Carolina takes on Charleston Southern and Dartmouth at home this weekend. Gamecocks drop close match with Furman at Stone Stadium BY WES WOLFE TIIK GAMKGOGK The USC women’s soccer team (0-2) began its home season Sept. 2 at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium under dark and cloudy skies and with a malfunctioning scoreboard. These circumstances proved a metaphor for the team’s match against Furman (1-1), which Carolina lost 1-0. Most of the first half featured a back-and-forth style of play in which neither team seemed to gain an advantage. Carolina did have a few chances to score a goal early on, however. About 10 minutes into the game, USC forward Jessi Swaim hit a corner kick that landed in the vicinity of mid fielder Abi Markham, who took a shot. Furman goalkeeper Andie Hinshaw, however, made the save. The Gamecocks had two more corner kicks in the first half, but neither kick came as close to set ting up an opportunity like Markham’s earlier shot-on-goal. At the 15th-minute mark, Furman midfielder Tara Marker hit a corner kick out to Paladin forward Emily Turgeon. Turgeon’s shot went over Carolina goalkeeper Elise Matthews’ head and over the goal. Next time, though, the Gamecocks wouldn’t be so lucky. At the 19:24 mark, Marker kicked a lead pass over to Turgeon, who then placed the ball in the left end of the Carolina net for the only goal of the evening. For the remainder of the first half, Carolina seemed to become more aggressive and pressed Furman on the Paladins’ side of the field. USC midfielder Shelly Hoddeson came very close to scor ing twice, but both shots went slightly over the goal. In the second half, Furman came out aggressively and chal lenged Carolina on three separate occasions early in the half. Hoddeson managed to get two more shots at the Furman goal, but both missed. Furman forward Turgeon also had another shot-on goal but missed high and to the right. USC coach Shelley Smith was disappointed with the team’s per formance. “We came out flat tonight and showed a lack of determination that was there from our first game,” Smith said. “We have to learn from it; we can’t just play when we want to. I think that comes with some players taking some leadership roles and mak ing sure they step it up on the field.” Carolina has a chance to turn k around its 0-2 start tonight with a match against Charleston Southern at Stone Stadium at 7 p.m. CSU’s only other contest this season was a 1-0 loss to Appalachian State at Boone, N.C. In that match, Appalachian State scored just one minute in and held on for the following 89 minutes. CSU is coming off a highly dis appointing 2002 season, in which Lady Bucs coach Eric Terrill ex pected the team to contend for the Big South championship. Instead, CSU posted a paltry 2-14 2 record. Last year, USC beat CSU 5-0 in a rout. Four out of the five goals in the match were scored by Carolina players who are back this year, including Ashley Gosnell, Lindsay Haney, Camille Toney and Ashley Williams. The Gamecocks take on Dartmouth on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stone Stadium. Dartmouth will begin its season this afternoon at 4 p.m. at Davidson, after finishing last season with a 12-5-1 record and a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Rhode Island. This is the first ■meeting between the Gamecocks and the Big Green. „ Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksportsfajiotmail.com %