Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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USC SOCC( BY BILLY COX Of The Gamecock staff Question: In what Carolina sport have its athletes won its last seven tournament games, broken six records the first timo they were in that tourney, and returned the following year to smash two of its own marks? Hint: This is the same team that boasts at least four bona fide All-America candidates, and is paced by one of the top five scorers in , the nation. They practice twice a day during regular season, once at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. and again at 6 p.m. Hey! Who are these guys? Although names like Peter Heath, John Rosier, and Kenny Jefferson are hardly household words across the 'USC campus, their opponents know them only too well. Their sport is soccer. They are devastating. Consider the fact that they labor under the stigma of being a non-varsityentity and their feats are even more remarkable. Soccer, huh? Time was, back in the fall of 1972, when everyone was making clever little barbs about Paul Dietzel's "Columbia Fried Chicken," better jokes could've been invented about the USC booters. They won a grand total of one game that season, and dedication meant sticking around together after each contest to get a beer. Suddenly in 1973, with the addition of key personnel and a refreshing change of attitude, Carolina quietly stunned the entire region by capturing the prestigious Southeastern Classic Invitational in a complete record-shattering rout. Instrumental in steadying the team to its 9-7-4 mark were halfbacks Ken McCord and Tim Hankinson, who recognized the potential for success early in the season. John Rosier, unassuming and soft-spoken, paced the squad with 19 goals as a freshman, and wound up in the nation's top 10 in scoring. Then there were guys like Pete Heath, impassive types who turned into gun-ho wild men once a game got underway. The 1974 campaign found the Gamecocks struggling. Then, playing on Appalachian State's astroturf, the roof caved in. The Mounties blitzed USC 8-2 with African import Udogu scoring six times, and Carolina was reeling at 3-4-1. Instead of folding, however, USC regrouped after this bitter loss, with the turning point of the year coming perhaps against tiny Warren Wilson College. Wilson, which pours its entire athletic budget into cross-country and soccer, was a seasoned squad manned almost entirely by foreign recruits. USC's defensive game finally jelled and Wilson suffered~ 3-1 setback, its first h -" defeat in 15 year. ik ht Carolina wa back. The Gamecocks won their last four regular season games and accepted a bid to the Southeastern Classic for the second straight year. The Invitational was hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Carolina, after barreling over three straight opponents, logically should've met Tulane in the finals, the only other unbeaten, untied team in the tourney. However, someone had engineered a rule whereby the two teams with the largest total victory margins would meet in the finals, regar dless of their record. Somewhere along- the way--you guessed it Georgia Tech, which had been tied once, managed to run up the scores on its other opponents and qualified to play in the cham pionship round on the basis of total hr - What point margin. So USC was forced to fight for third place consolation with Georgia. It wasn't fought like a bridesmaid contest, though,- as both teams were knotted up at the end of two five-minute overtimes. Something had to give, and each team received five penalty kicks. When the smoke had cleared after Sports analysis the shootout, Carolina, saved by the defensive genius of goalie Ken Jefferson, walked away with a 5-2 victory. Tulane, incidentally, won the trophy. So where does it go from here? After reaching unparalleled levels of success . ... maybe nowhere. Because soccer at this university is only a club sport, it is ineligible .to receive any type of national ranking, and its members are disqualified from gaining All America attention. Rosier, for instance ured in a who in 27 4 B Ma NOI A S WRITE OR ( OPERA BEECH BANNE does the f goals in 15 games, but because he plays for a club, he might as well not exist. Once again, the spectre of Title IX emerges to haunt not only soccer but almost every other USC sport as well. Title IX is the soon to-be enacted law which will call for an equally divided budget between men's and women's sports. Plans are being made at present to scrap expenses of most minor sports to equalize the budget. Which means that the possibility of the athletic depart ment adding another program is zero. For Tim Hankinson, replacing the graduating Ken McCord as president of the Soccer Club, the denial of a varsity title is a hard pill to swallow. "We have verything going for us," he ad mitted. "We're building a tradition here at Carolina, and suddenly teams are scared to play us." However, Hankinson con fessed that being a club sport may have hampered the team's per formance, especially during the regular season. He cited the dif ficulties involved with travel 4 UNTAIN ?TH CAROLINA WHOLE I KI FUN F ,,oon' STUDENT PA~ eVALID WEEKDAYS ANI eREGULAR WEEKDAY' S (WITH ID) ARE '5-LI *GROUP.AND FACULTY *NIGHT ACTION EVERY K I THE BEST :ALL TIONS DIRECTOR MOUNTAIN, BOX 277 R E LK, N.C. 28604 uture hol arrangements, field lining, distribution of referees' checks, and equipment upkeep, among other things, which would have been of secondary concern had the team been sponsored by the athletic department. Particularly disturbing to Hankinson were enormous athletic department expenditures which he felt could have been put to better use. "$300,000 for a scoreboard?! And they claim they couldn't support us?" he mused, shaking his head in exasperation. "We're not asking for scholar ships. We're asking for that varsity recognition, to give us something to aim for. Look," he continued, "soccer could pay for itself within two years, guaranteed publicity and status. We could exist on $20,000 per year easily with a paid coach, which would require approximately $7,500 .annual salary." Because no money is allocated to the coaching position, the booters stand a strong chance of losing inspirational Yank Albers, who guided the team to its 11-4-1 record. Albers, currently working at a ITUDEI 5PECIA Act Now-Bet Snow in 3 Yea MINTER 4 OR ON" tS ) NIGHTS FUDENT RATES T AND '5-EQUIPMEN DISCOUNTS FRIDAY BEECH MOUNTI 7 O4Main -- 3S7 SnwReport I? local restaurant, is in a tight financial squeeze and has received a coaching offer from a high school in Virginia. Carolina soccer will probably find itself without Richard Fer nald, its faculty advisor, who is retiring from the ROTC in August. Fernald, an ardent admirer of the sport, delivered an impressive speech to the Gamecock Club over the Christmas holidays in an effort to drum up a substantial backifg. The Gamecock Club, it should be noted, contributes about $800,000 to the athletic budget per year, and has the potential power to say where the money goes. Fernald's presentation apparently scored well with many club members, and if USC soccer receives any financial assistance in the future (other than SGA allocations), it will have to come from this organization. But at present, no plans have been made. In the meantime, soccer refuses to die. Perhaps not everyone presently on the roster will return next year. Scouts from other Continued on Page 11 IT LS rs! IF UN! - 387-234