Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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%\\z (gamecock USC Women’s soccer loses; teams fought hard, fouled often by Shannon Rooke The Gamecock In practice, the South Carolina women's soccer team would remind any one of a championship team in the mak ing. At game time, it's a different story. “VVfe have great practices, and we do what we're supposed to do in practice, but then we get out onto the field and something is just not clicking,” junior Melinda Carter said Sunday. “We have to start making it click.” When North Carolina State (2-1) scored an overtime goal to defeat the Gamecocks 1-0 on Sunday, USC saw its home opener slip out of its fingers and its record fall to 0-2. “Wfe're certainly not happy and we're very disappointed, but credit to N.C. State,” USC head coach Sue Kelly said. “They fought and they fought well.” The game wasn't all one-sided, how ever. I he Gamecocks opened the tint halt dominating the match and putting instant pressure on the Wolfpack defense. The first shot from USC came eight minutes into the game but rolled wide. Although the scoreboard remained 0-0 at half time, the Gamecock offense had put pressure on Wolfpack goalie Kristin Skinner, as USC led 74 on total shots. Coming back onto the field, Kelly had made some lineup changes and be lieved her team had a very good chance at taking the match. One of those changes was when she placed Carter at the starting center-for ward position. Carter recorded three shots on the afternoon “She's got the ability to play up front,” Kelly said. “And we needed a change of pace, so it was a little bit more of a tac tical change.” There were 31 fouls made by both teams in the match, and along with an in tense crowd at the “Graveyard,” the game li quickly turned into a very physical one. “It didn't change our game at all, but I do think that we lost a lot of forward movement with that,” Carter said. “As soon as any team gets fouled that many times up front, it will slow them down and take their momentum.” Gamecock midfielder Becky Leep erwas frustrated with the outcome. “In practice our play seems a lot more dynamic, a lot faster and we seem a lot more pumped,” she said. “Today, I don't know what happened. We just didn't spark.” Leeper, a sophomore who played in 19 of 20 matches in 1999, provided one shot in the game. The lone goal of the afternoon came in the 95th minute when Wolfpack for ward Carmen Isreal received a break away pass and shot inside the box. The 12-yard shot slipped past USC starting goalkeeper Elise Matthews and into the lower left comer of the net. The Gamecocks, who face a tough Southeastern Conference schedule this season, have one of their youngest squads “Wfe play a different game this year and it's not about replacing any players, it's more about improving the unit as the years go on,” Kelly said. “It's still early and we're in a tough schedule, but I think we're going to see the benefits over a two year period. With that type of youth com ing in and us losing very little next year, we're going to see many improvements, but it may take some time.” With their next game tonight against in-state rival Clemson, time is one thing that South Carolina needs more of. “We need to work on working to gether and moving up and down the field together,” Leeper said. “When we do work well, we really can beat anyone, and now it's just about needing the wins.” Soccer see page m USC’s special teams show improvement in victory by John Huiett The Gamecock Most would agree that the weak est part of the Gamecock football program the past few years has been their special teams. Shanked punts, blocked and missed field goals, fumbles inside the 10-yard line, and poor tackling were all commonplace at a USC football game during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. But after one game in the new millennium, things appear to have changed. The Gamecocks averaged 29 yards on kickoff returns, averaged 35.7 yards per punt, and allowed on ly 5.5 yards on punt returns. The starting place kicker was Tyeler Dean, but after Dean shanked an extra point and a punt, some unexpected reserves saw some action. Junior place kicker Reid Bethea got the call for the field goal and extra point duties and responded with excellence. Bethea nailed a 24-yard field goal and didn’t miss a point after touchdown the entire game. He tallied three PAT’s for the night. “I think Reid Bethea kicked very well tonight for us,” Coach Lou Holtz said. Another big problem for the Gamecocks has been their ability to pin opponents deep in their own ter ritory on kick-offs. But the USC kick ing team only allowed an average of 27.2 yards on kick-off returns. Long kicker Jason Corse played a big part in this, routinely putting his kicks in-* side the 10-yard line. The punting game was equally as pleasing, as Tyeler Dean made up for his place-kicking woes, with an av- * erage of 35.7 yards on his three at tempts. After Dean’s 20-yard miscue, he recovered well, averaging 43.5 yards on his last two attempts. “At first we had a little difficul ty kicking the ball, but Tyeler has n’t kicked in about two weeks. Once everyone got settled, I think our kick ing game was very good,” Holtz said. The Gamecocks will definitely need strong special team play next week when they take on one of the best defenses in tlje SEC, the Geor gia Bulldogs. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom. Defense from page 12 The Gamecock defense com bined for eight tackles for a loss, and five sacks. One of the Game cock leaders on defense is team captain Cleveland Pinkney. The 6'2”, 290-pound senior defensive tackle made four tackles in the, opening game of the 2000 season. “This was a great win. I was really glad to see the fans react the - way they did. We were as excited as them. I lost my last junior col lege game, so it’s been a while since we won, so this is real nice,” Pinkney said. “Now we just can go enjoy this one for a while. But we can't just stop working now. We have a long way to go.” The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotinail.com. Equestrian team ready to hit the road for Nationals Melissa Homan, riding Maeva, looks to strengthen the equestri an team’s chances of making Nationals. BY MANESHKA Eli ATA M B Y The Gamecock With the current buzz being the Gamecocks’ football win against New Mexico State last weekend, the eques trian team has again fallen into the shadows of the more popular sports. Equestrian has been a sport at USC for five years, and the university was the second Division 1 SEC school to recognize it as a varsity sport. After five women on their team reached Nationals last year, two of them placing seventh in the Open Hunter Seat and Open Western Divi sions, the Gamecock Equestrian team is ready to hit the road once again. This year, the 27-member team is led by co-captains Jennifer Connor and Jennifer Wood, who will both com pete in the Ppen Division. They will be joined by Amy Bell from Califor nia, a top rider on this year’s squad is expected to return to the Nationals for the fourth time. Freshman English ma jor Sarah Tomasi from Colchester, Vt., and newcomer Melissa Homan - a freshman business administration ma- . jor from Rebersbuig, Penn. - complete the team. Both Homan and Tomasi have im pressive track records, and their pres ence should definitely strengthen the team’s chances of assuring the Game cocks a top placing at this year’s Na tionals. The rest of Hunt Seat and Western teams are divided into Novice, Inter mediate and Advanced divisions. The category that the riders compete Equestrian see wge m ll ^ FUG FOOTBALL OFFICIALS WANTED! H-- — ; Work On Campus Earn Extra Cash $$ Set Your Own Hours Just come to the meeting on Wednesday, September 6th at 7pm in Room 134 of the Blatt PE Center. For more information call the Office of Campus Recreation @ 777-5261. DEPARTMENT OF STUDENT LIFE / DIVISION OF STUDENT AND ALUMNI SERVICES / USC USC IS AN ADA/AA/EOE <■ ' :