The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 06, 2000, Page 10, Image 10
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Gamecock Sports Schedule
■ Volleyball at Georgia, Fri., 7 p.m.
■ Women’s soccer at Vanderbilt, Fri., 7 p.m.
■ Men’s golf in Dalton, Ga., Fri.-Sun.
■ Football at Kentucky, Sat., 7 p.m.
PAGE 10 1 - %\\t (BaiTICCOCk Friday, October 6,2000
USC tries to avenge
losses to Clemson
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
It’s been five years since the South Carolina
men’s soccer team last defeated Clemson.
The Gamecocks beat the Tigers 3-2 in 1995,
but they’ve lost their past five meetings with
their in-state rivals, including a second round
NCAA Tournament game in 1997.
USC looks to end its losing streak Sunday
when it faces Clemson at The Graveyard.
Both teams come into the contest with their
confidence high.
USC (8-1-1) hasn’t been beaten in its past
eight games, and with upsets of Top 10 teams
Virginia, Maryland and Penn State along the way,
it has climbed all the way to No. 4 in the coun
try by the NSCAA.
The Tigers (7-2) have won their last four
matches and are ranked No. 20 in the nation.
Gamecock goalkeeper Henry Ring, a red
shirt senior who has been at Carolina since their
losing streak against Clemson began, expects a
hard-fought game.
“Every time we play them, as soon as the
whistle blows, it gets so intense,” Ring said. “It’s
probably the most intense game we play all sea
son.”
in men iaM live meetings, uem^un iias>
outscored USC 9-1. But that doesn’t bother USC
forward Jordan Quinn.
“That doesn’t worry me,” Quinn said. “It’s
a new year every year, with a totally new team
and new guys. If we do what we have been do
ing, we should win.”
What the Gamecocks have been doing is win
ning soccer games, and lots of them.
Since their loss to UNC-Charlotte Sept. 4,
USC has been on a tear, knocking off No. 1 Vir
ginia, No. 8 Maryland and five other teams. Last
Sunday, the Gamecocks beat No. 2 Penn State
1-0 in University Park, Pa.
Nineteen of the 24 players on South Caroli
na’s roster are either freshmen or sophomores.
But for a relatively young and inexperienced
squad before the season, the Gamecocks have
surprisingly displayed a lot of maturity during
the first half of the year.
‘This is a great group of guys,” Mark Berson,
USC’s head coach, said of his team. ‘They have
a wonderful fighting spirit, and they have a great
mentality for the game.”
“Our early season schedule has given us a
lot of confidence,” Berson said. “And I don’t
think it’s falsely earned either.”
Berson is quick to point out, however, that
by no means does the team think they are the
best they can be.
“This group doesn’t think they’ve arrived,”
Berson said. ‘There’s a lot of soccer yet to play.
We’re just at the midpoint of the season.”
Clemson returns seven starters from last year’s
squad that went 9-8-2 and beat USC 1-0 at
Riggs Field.
“They are very well-organized,” Berson said
of the Tigers. “They move the ball around real
well. They’re just solid in all areas.”
Fabio Tambosi is the catalyst of the Clem
son offense. The sophomore forward from Sao
Paulo, Brazil leads the team in shots (26), goals
(10) and total points (24).
“Fabio Tambosi up front is a very exciting
player,” Berson said.
Senior midfielder Mark Lisi is the Tigers’
second leading scorer behind Tambosi with 17
points off six goals and five assists. The Engle
wood, Colo, native was named to the All-ACC
First Team in 1999 and has been red-hot lately,
scoring four goals and two assists in the Tigers’
last two wins versus Brown and CS-Fullerton.
Doug Warren, a sophomore transfer from In
diana, will start in goal for Clemson. He has 29
saves on the year.
Berson knows that there’s more at stake in
this game than just bragging rights over their ri
vals.
“Our goal is to make it to the NCAA Tour
nament,” Berson said. “And because it’s one of
the big games in the South Region, it’s an im
portant game for NCAA Tournament purposes
too.”
The Gamecocks missed out on the post
season last year for the first time since 1996.
But to Ring, the former All-American and
current co-captain of the Gamecocks, this game
is personal.
“It’s my last chance to beat [Clemson],” he
said.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
“Our early season schedule
has given us a lot of confi
dence, and I don’t think it’s
falsely earned either.”
Mark Berson
USC Head Coach
USC takes on Wildcats
by Michael Haney
The Gamecock
South Carolina will try to rebound this
week after suffering its first loss of the sea
son last weekend to Alabama.
The Gamecocks (4-1, 2-1 SEC) will
travel to Lexington, Ky. Saturday to bat
tle the Wildcats (2-3, 0-2 SEC) before a
national television audience on ESPN2.
Carolina will be looking to end a 10
game SEC road losing streak. The last time
Carolina won on the road was a 39-13 vic
tory over Arkansas in 1997.
Kentucky is coming off of a 35-17 loss
to the hands of the Ole Miss Rebels, suf
fering through what head coach Hal
Mumme called “the worst offensive per
formance I’ve seen in four years here.”
The Wildcats’ fast-paced offense was
held to just 179 yards through the air while
quarterback Jared Lorenzen was just 17 of
42 passing.
The USC offense, on the other hand,
will get a much needed boost as quarter
back Phil Petty is expected back at 100 per
cent after an ankle injury sidelined him
most of last week and more than half of
last week’s game at Alabama.
ujv, neau coacn lou noiiz saiu rei
ty’s movement in practice has been better
than he anticipated.
“He looked surprisingly good,” Holtz
said. “He’s showing very little after-effects
of the injury. He was sharp.”
The Gamecock offense, which played
considerably well against Alabama last
week, will look to continue that trend
against a woeful Kentucky defense.
The Wildcats are giving up 35 points
a game and almost 400 yards of total of
fense to their opponents. The Wildcats ran
up more than 500 yards of offense against
Florida this year, only to see their de
fense give up 59 points.
“My heart goes out to the kids; they’re
trying real hard. We just haven’t had a whole
lot of success,” UK defensive coordinator
Mike Major said. “I know everybody’s
pointing fingers, but I let them know that
I still believe in them.”
While the defense has had its trou
bles, the Kentucky offense has been on fire
this year, last week not withstanding.
The Wildcats are rolling up 418 yards
and 30 points per contest. Lorenzen, who
replaced last year’s starter Dusty Bonner,
has been a “big” fixture of the offensive
unit this year. Lorenzen stands at 6 feet 4
inches and weighs 275 pounds, an as
tounding number for a quarterback.
“You’d have a better time trying to pull
the Statue of Liberty down than you do
to drag him down,” Holtz said of Loren
zen.
“They got him on a diet,” USC nose
guard Cleveland Pinkney said. “This dude
is 290 pounds. I’ve seen him on tape. He’s
all of that. He’s a big ol’ boy.”
The Gamecock defense will try to put
more pressure on Lorenzen then it has
against past quarterbacks.
Carolina has managed only four sacks
in its past four contests. The defense ranks
10th in the SEC in sack ratio, and it aver
ages one sack per 18 attempts defensive
ly
“Putting pressure on Kentucky is re
ally going to be important,” said USC se
nior defensive end Anthony Overstreet.
“We’re gonna have to get in [Lorenzen’s]
face and knock him down.”
“We need lost-yardage plays; we
need sacks; we need guys applying pres
sure,” Carolina defensive coordinator Char
lie Strong said.
Holtz said this week’s game is a test
for his players coming off a loss and play
ing away for the second straight week.
“Playing in front of a hostile crowd
on Saturday night is not exactly how I would
like to see our team come back from a dis
appointing loss,” he said.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Sean Rayford The Gamecock
Head coach Lou Holtz and his Gamecocks look to get back on the winning
track Saturday when they face SEC East rival Kentucky.
Women’s soccer hits the road in search of first conference win
— _ ■ I —— ■ ■
Amy Goulding The Gamecock
South Carolina senior defender Kim Murray gets off a pass in a recent game against
Utah. Murray and the Gamecocks are looking for their first SEC win this weekend.
by Casey White
The Gamecock
The South Carolina women’s soccer
team hopes to even out its SEC record this
weekend when it faces two tough oppo
nents away from the friendly confines of
The Graveyard. The Gamecocks will be
on the road as they travel to Vanderbilt
on Friday, and to Kentucky on Sunday.
The Vanderbilt women’s soccer team
is riding high with a three-game winning
streak, with wins over SMU, Auburn and
Alabama. In its last game, the Commodores
traveled to Tuscaloosa and defeated the
Crimson Tide, 2-1, for its second SEC win.
First-year head coach Robbie Church,
previously from UNC-Charlotte, has led
the Commodores to an overall record of 5
5 (2-1 SEC) for the season. He is coach
ing a team that has made five straight
NCAA Tournament appearances and has
won two SEC Tournament championships.
Assistant coach Billy Lesesne, also in his
first year with Vandy, came to the Com
modores from Erskine College.
Vanderbilt has a strong offensive line
this year with talent evenly distributed
across the field. Leading the Commodores
in total points is freshman Michelle Bruntlett
with eight on the season, including three
goals. Three other starters have also post
ed three goals this season, including senior
Katie Stegall, sophomore Kat Carroll, and
freshman Jennifer Lewis.
Another player to watch is sophomore
Jen Talavera, who has come on strong in
Vandy’s past few games and leads the team
with three goals in SEC play, two of which
were game-winners.
The goalkeeper for the Commodores
will be freshman Stacee Sproul, who has
a season goals-against-average of 1.66.
Last year, the Gamecocks edged the
Commodores at The Graveyard 1-0.
Kentucky is holding onto its strong rep
utation as an outstanding women’s soc
cer program with a 10-1 (3-0 SEC) record
this season. Its only loss this year was in
its third game of the season, when Min
nesota won 1-0. The Wildcats have been
the highest ranked SEC team for five
straight weeks. Last week, the Wildcats re
mained undefeated in the SEC with a 3-1
victory at Auburn.
Leading the team since 1992, when the
program began, is head coach Warren
Lipka, who was named the 1999 SEC
Coach of the Year. He received this award
after guiding the Wildcats to a second place
finish in the SEC’s Eastern Division.
Kentucky boasts both a strong offense
and defense. The Wildcats have taken 196
shots this season and have limited their op
ponents to only 52 shots.
Wildcat forward Keri Boyce leads the
team in points this season with 21, including
eight goals. Junior Annie Gage leads Ken
tucky in assists with seven for 15 total
points, and sophomore Elizabeth Ram
sey has contributed four goals for 12 to
tal points.
Goalkeeper Beth Wells is another strong
point for the Wildcats as she has record
ed 20 saves with only six goals allowed
for the season.
Last year in an evenly matched game,
the Wildcats defeated the Gamecocks at
The Graveyard, 2-1 in overtime. Kentucky
is undefeated against USC, who has failed
to beat the Wildcats in their five meetings.
Despite their early struggles, the Game
cocks remain optimistic and hope to bring
home two “W’s” to add to their record this
weekend.
After the two road games, they will re
turn home to The Graveyard Oct. 20 to take
on Auburn.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Vollevball to take on ninth ranked Gators this weekend
by Charles Tomlinson
The Gamecock
The South Carolina volleyball team takes
its nine-game winning streak on the road this
weekend to face two SEC foes. USC will trav
el to Athens, Ga. to face the Bulldogs Friday
night and on Sunday, they will head to
Gainesville, Fla. to take on No. 9 Florida.
The Georgia Bulldogs (9-7, 1-3 SEC) are
looking to make up for a disappointing 1999
season in which they finished 10-16 and failed
to qualify for the SEC Tournament for the
first time in their volleyball history.
This year, Georgia hopes that a change in
leadership will allow its program to flour
ish once again.
In January, former Wake Forest head coach
and 1999 ACC Coach of the Year Mary
Buczek took the reins at UGA.
“I told the team our keys will be consis
tently working hard, being mentally focused,
and sustaining that for a whole season, and
getting better match to match,” Buczek said.
Three starters are returning to the Bull
dogs this season. One of these starters, junior ;
Stacy Buerger, was selected to the All-SEC i
Second Team in 1999 and led her team in digs
and kills. Buerger, along with sophomore Jen- I
nifer Foytich and freshman Luresa Forsythe, <
are the powerhouses of the outside hitter 1
rotation.
Erin Gomes and Kristine Keese, both two
'ear Georgia volleyball veterans, return as
niddle blockers this season.
Buczek’s biggest challenge this season
las been finding a replacement for graduat
ed starting setter Mindi Westfall. Senior Iskra
5erez has made her defensive presence known
Volleyball SEE PAGE 11