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41 Monday, Soptombor 23, 1996 Gamec ^ JOSH PENROP Staff Writer A little rain never hurt anyone. A turnover now and then can be made up J 14 4 1 1 J iui euiu a penally ur iwu can ue jjiayeu around. However, when you mix a downpour with too many penalties and turnovers, it makes for a very grim outcome. That was the case Saturday night for the Gamecocks as they started slow and never recovered. I East Carolina sophomore fullback Scott Haiiey helped get the Pirates out of the gate early by turning the first play from scrimmage into a 43 yard gain to put the Pirates at the USC 42. Three plays later, Harley got the nod again and darted downfield for a 17 yard pickup, that combined with a USC offsides call, helped set up Chad Holcomb for a 25 year-ricocheted field goal and a 3-0 ECU lead after only their first possession. South Carolina's offense sputtered on the next series and led Courtney Leavitt to a 33 yard punt that forced East Carolina to start from their own 36 with 6:22 left to go in the first quarter. On the subsequent ECU drive, the Gamecocks were railed for two penalties totaling 21 yards that led to a 27 yard field goal attempt by Holcomb that missed wide right. South Carolina failed to capitalize off of the Pirates' missed field goal on their next offensive series and Leavitt was forced to punt again and put East Carolina at the USC 39 yard line. On first and ten, Freshman defensive end Matt Marsters made a big hit on Harley, but USC's fifth penalty of the quarter and a 17 yard touchdown pass from Marcus Crandell to Larry Shannon topped off by a Holcomb field goal put ECU on top 10-0 going into the second J Lady Gamec< BRYAN JOHNSTON Asst. Sports Editor 1 . j The women's soccer team racked i up their second consecutive victory by defeating Virginia Commonwealth , PWloV nirilf 0_A TKA tirm Jk 1IUUJ 111^111^ 4TV. JL IIC TTIII WCV911 I fJICI/LJT, but Head Coach Sue Kelly will "A win is a win," Kelly said. "We've played better and we've lost so j I'm gonna take it. It appeared the Lady Gamecocks l were off their game after Wednesday's stunning 3-2 upset over ninth-ranked \ Clemson. They had numerous chances \ to score but failed to convert. j "We were a little bit flat from the g standpoint of expending that much ] energy on our last game," Kelly said. "We certainly weren't going to lose it, j but I would have liked for us to finish s a few more." s Carolina scored the first goal of the game with 19:51 left in the first half ? when senior mid-fielder Debbie Smith ? drove a low grounder to the left post to t beat VCU goalkeeper Nicole Bauguss. The unassisted goal, Smith's first of the s season, gave USC a 1-0 lead. t "It was tremendous to see Debbie j get her first goal of the season. She ^ deserves that," Kelly said. C Carolina took the 1-0 lead over the a Lady Rams into the half and then added q to it with 30:59 left in the game. Freshman Jennie Ondo took a crossing pass from Lexi Tourtellotte < with her back to the goal She controlled I Men's soccer c BEN PlliOW Staff Writer '* v The USC men's soccer team had h more than one cause for celebration a Sunday following their match against v* the University of Massachusetts in the d sixth annual Umbro Kickoff Classic. The Gamecocks had the new Eugene E E. Stone HI Stadium dedicated before E the 2 p.m. game, then went out and got J their second win in a row, a 4-1 victory & over a Minuteman team that came into Columbia ranked No. 14 in the countiy. t( USC (2-3) has out-scored their tc opponents 9-1 in the last two games, fc thanks mostly to the kind of wake-up call only an 0-3 start can give, freshman ft midfielder Ryan O'Neill said. V "We've stepped up the intensity a B lot more in the last couple of games," tl Sunday's game-winning goal scorer said. g< !finkc j quarter. The Pirates helped contribute to the Gamecock's first quarter drought as their workhorse in the backfield, Scott Harley had a whopping 115 yards on 11 carries and USC had a total of five penalties for 35 yards. The of the second quarter looked a little better as USC came out running their no-huddle offense and Anthony Wright hooked up with Corey Bridges on two consecutive passes for 19 yards. On 2nd and 3 from the ECU 39, Duce Staley caught a pass deflected by East Carolina defensive tackle Lorenzo West and picked up a gain of seven before being pushed out of bounds. Three plays later, Zola Davis had a 19 yard reception and was shoved out of bounds at the Pirates' 11. After a nine yard pass to Marcus Robinson and a 1 yard penalty, the Gamecocks looked poised on 1st and goal from the one yard line. On the following play, just before Wright took the snap, he pulled out from underneath of center Paul Beckwith and motioned for crowd noise, then handed the ball off to Duce Staley for a 1 yard touchdown that would be the only one on the night for the Gamecocks. The crowd did show its approval by coming alive for the first time since early in the second quarter. After trading punts, East Carolina drove the ball down to the USC 1 yard line before a fourth down muffed snap forced a turnover and gave South Carolina the ball. The Gamecocks ran down the last 2:33 of the half and the teams went to the locker rooms with the Pirates' leading 10-7. clriit_Aiii jnurvju the ball, turned, juked and blew a leftfooted shot past three defenders and the goalie into the upper left corner. The unassisted goal was Ondo's iighth of the season. The 5-4 forward from Charleston has scored r^n in six of the seven games Bfl USC has played. "[The passl was a beautiful cross from Lexi; it was iwesome," Ondo said "I controlled [the jalll in the air and turned and shot." After taking the 2-0 lead, Carolina leld on for the remaining 30 minutes jy controlling the ball and playing jossession soccer. If VCU managed to jet a charge going, the back line didn't et them get far. Coach Kelly gave high praise to unior transfer Kelly LaFreniere and enior sweeper Happy Payne for their olid play. South Carolina goalkeeper Amanda handling, a junior transfer from Georgia louthern, posted her first shut-out of I he season. The win moves Carolina 3-4 on the eason, but leaves little time to epjoy he victory. A "tough and physical ladford team," according to Kelly, comes ito Columbia tonight to play the Lady I lamecocks. Game-time is set for 7 pjn. t the new Stone Stadium at The Iraveyard. Scoring Summary 25:09 - Debbie Smith (unassisted) 59:01 - Jennie Ondo (unassisted) lefeats Massac Head) Coach (Mark) Berson said if we rin the 50/50 balls, we win all the eaders, track back on defense and do 11 the hard things right, then the rest nil take care of itself, and obviously it id." Defense was a popular theme with lerson as well. The Gamecocks outshot iMass 23-4, and USC starting goalie 1 ohn Mills was forced to make only one ave. ; limiting a team like Massachusetts 1 > four shots, that's a big plus for our < sam," Berson said. This is a big win 1 >r us." I In addition to the defensive play of i eshmen Chris Morman and Hans fhetstone and sophomore Tony Soto, i erson said the key to the game was ] le Gamecocks' reaction to UMass' first < )al in the game's 28th minute. ] Massachusetts preseason All- j SPO mm ire was Heavier rain came at halftime which kept the inarching band from performing but two fans decided to provide the halftime entertainment by sprinting across the field before being apprehended by security. The Pirates scored twice more in the second half and pitched a shutout for the Gamecocks in the half, ending with the. score of 23-7 and dropping USC to 2-1 on the season. Duce Staley remained one of the few constants in a Gamecock offensive that failed to convert several times in the game. Staley amassed 113 yards on 11 carries that made him the first USC running back since Harold Green did it in 1987 to rush for three consecutive 100-yard games. Needless to say, USC did not do offensively what they needed to do. South Carolina only converted 3 of their 14 third-down attempts (21%) and fumbled 6 times losing two of those to the Pirates. Seven penalties for 55 yards did not help much either. "We had trouble on both sides of the football tonight," said coach Brad Scott. "Offensively, we just weren't able to move the ball effectively and (we) turned the football over, things we hadn't done in the first couple of ballgames. Field position was a factor. We couldn't seem to ever get out of the hole." "Defensively, we didn't do a very good job of tackling. They have a good scheme and they're a very dangerous offense. They took advantage of the way we came out early in the game to tiy to play their passing game and they ran the football effectively against us," said Scott. Running the football effectively was an understatement as ECU fullback Scott Harley had a career night rushing 41 times for 291 yards en route to * m ^mg? S i w%I ' jK . :-x Senior mid-flolder Debblo Smith, a fights for tho ball with Virginia C? Kennoy. Tho Lady Qamococks Impro 2-0 shut-out of tho Lady Rams. Sou physical Radford toam," according t< at 7 p.m. at tho now Eugono E. Stom :husetts in UM] American Dave Siljanovski put the hi Minutemen (3-1-1) up 1-0 with a shot n< from the top of the penalty box that beat Mills to the right. m USCs Clint Mathis scored the first a of his two goals less than two minutes ju later, however, when his twisting comer at kick bounced off UMass defender Tashi rij Tshering. There has been several times this th year where we've played very well and h< then have had a breakdown ... and we of didn't always answer as well as we would in like," Berson said. The first key to the *ame was the way we came back and a answered their goal." lo< O'Neill scored with 12 and a half th ninutes left in the first half after Viorman's initial shot nearly dropped th aver UMass goalie Tim Pearson's head. O Pearson was unable to control the ball, sti and O'Neill dived for the rebound, ar iRTS wswm *hnri ni >111*11 Ul breaking the Pirates' previous singlegame record of 282. Both father and son defensive coordinator Wally Burnham and linebacker Shane Burnham both cited practices that lacked intensity earlier in the week. "I thought we played about liked we practiced. I didn't think we had very good practices Tuesday and Wednesday," said Coach Burnham. However, the defense did have one bright spot to build from. They effectively shutdown ECU quarterback Marcus Crandell, an Ail-American candidate, holding him to a scant 75 yards through the air on 5-20 passing. This will help the Gamecocks as they face Tennessee's Peyton Manning, Florida's Danny Wuerffel, possibly Kentucky's freshman phenomenon Tim Couch later in the season. South Carolina quarterback Anthony Wright finished the game completing 13 of 22 passes for 127 yards and he threw his first interception of the season. The much anticipated quarterback shootout turned into a battle of running backs with Hariey winning in unanimous decision. Defensively, linebacker Benji Young led USC with nine tackles and two assists. "This is only one loss," said a straightforward Young. "We still have the whole season ahead of us. We can bounce back from this loss and go on." Referring to a question asking him about next week, Young said,"Of course we have to have next week. Well come out next week prepared, (we'll play) hard, concentrate, and come out and get ( a win). East Carolina is a good team. It just wasn't meant to be. Sometimes its going to be like that." Hopefully the Gamecocks will make the right adjustments so that it will not. imonwealth ACHNM HUNT The Gamecock i native of Bsnflest, England, mmonwaalth forward Christina vod their record to 3-4 with the ith Carolina hosts a "tough and ? head coach Sue Kelly, tonight ? III Stadium at The Graveyard. BRO Classic jading it into the right corner of the st to give USC a 2-1 halftime lead. L The Gamecocks continued to force ost of the action in the second half, tlminating with 35:35 left to play when nior midfielder David Tarfs shot from )out 20 yards out beat Pearson to the ght. Mathis' second goal came with less an five minutes left in the game after ; beat two defenders on the left side ? the penalty box and planted the ball the right corner of the net. Now that the Gamecocks are riding winning streak, O'Neill said they are oking at everything after those first ree games as a new beginning. "We never expected to come out of ose first three games with three losses,' Neill said. "We just said we have to art it all over and start from scratch, id thafs what we did." it by P ? Kk^ pw^ South Carolina sonlor cornorback East Carolina sop homo rs wldo roci Saturday night's gamo. Amid tho | 10-7 half-time lead Into a 23-7 vie the ECU school-record 291 rushlni loss drops USC to 2-1 on the sei against the Mississippi St. Bulldog will kick off at a much earlier 12 p. By The Numbers 291 - The number of yards accumulated by East Carolina back Scott Harley in the game. He amassed 114 of those yards in the first quarter alone. 21 - The percentage of third downs that the Gamecocks converted in the game. 5- The number of penalties that the Gamecocks were called for in the first quarter alone. Four of those penalties were offsides call. 6- Fumbles by USC in the football game. They lost two of them. Game Balls Duce Staley- When the rains came Duce was the focal part of the offense. With his 113 yards he became the first USC running back in seven years to rush for 100 yards in three consecutive games. rs 1 T A A x 1 * vyuunney ijeavui- Alter two tougn games, Leavitt finally broke through with consistent punting and kickoffs. Benji Young - He led the Gamecock . defense with nine tackles and two assists in the East Carolina game. Scott Harley - The East Carolina tailback ran for 291 yards and was the workhorse for the Pirate offense that tallied 23 points in the game. Brad Scott's Comments "As far as our performance goes, I i was very disappointed. I thought that i we had trouble on both sides of the ball tonight." i P3ll2^:i-ihorida(4) || IiilHS % FMda'St :&w i- ?p%. fail. :jPemSt (5) :fi 4. (MoStm ' '' v x i HI-A Tennessee <2)|: IPS Nebraska (1) |f| 5 - ' t? Noire Dame (9) LJUs;' :C Michigan {8) 9. North Carolina 6 mmm i(XAri?<ma$t(i7) . it Miami<10)13 12. Colorado (12) 1 LhhJ 13. Alabama (13) | * 14> Texas (6) Sill 15. Southern Cat* (1 16.BSU(2l) XM imJ 17. Virginia Tech (1< \mr< > U. Kansas St (U) fr J% ^.Virginia <20) J 2a Auburn (13) l1 * 21. Iowa <19) i , . F \ =:. .22. Washington (24) j |mmmjt I 23. Ka&$&& (22) * 24. Bast Carolina <N ". 25. Minnesota (NR) 7 irates KM ITT I LAjflP I^ Mwk J ^ wP* IPr EBB'jP ttta2n^*iJ| NtKKI THORPE The Gamecock Tsrry Cousin (no. 6) brings down ?tvor Lamont Chappoll (no. 87) In KHiring rain, tho Plratos turned a tory over the Gamecocks behind ( yards from Scott Harley. The ison going Into Saturday's game Is. The 1996 Homecoming game m. due to television coverage. ' LhAhmLmliJ "Offensively we were unable to move the ball effectively. We turned the football over, and did things that we have not done in the last couple of ball games. Field position was a factor in the game, we could never seem to get out of a hole." "And then defensively, we did not do a a very good job tackling. Their first down plays especially, we gave up way to much yardage on first down. We did not tackle their backs well at all, and they have a good scheme. They J ii * < T are a uangerous onense so mat tOOK advantage of the way that we tried to play their passing game." "We knew going into the game that we needed to stop their running, and we were unable to do that." "We just could not get into sync on offense tonight, and we were in a difficult situation. The situation (heavy rain) out there for some of our young players, who maybe had not been there before. So we will leam from it, watch the game film, and we will be ready to go next Saturday night." "You know that both teams had to play in the same weather, and I think it ffid limit us a little bit, and then we became a little too one-dimensional. We had to run the ball for two reasons, one the rain was so heavy at one time and two we were locked into such bad field position for the second half." "We got a little break there in the second quarter, and we ran some of our no-huddle offense. Then the rains really came it was very tough for us. But that is a big compliment to their defense, and we were just not able to execute all night." compiled by Achim Hunt fill 111 x i tip 1 / 112 ; ||S||1 111 ;4-:-%;i 103;:|k ii-.98.-fe i: I* I ' : If 86 11) 84 m 77 i mgm liii 10 B gt .-ja ?|fl| : sr: II# & lili 64.. Ill ptpl 6i japiiyg< ilSii $> : , ' V; 46 pHfaO |gjg|' ..' U II *1: 'III also recieving | " ;1:30 votes iMJIil 29; byi; atiits 20! Horthwestem:lli IBhS 19 Wash St llllll M|t 8 So. Miss 111 i| *<:.:, 3?