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B5 T-| fTl /'N GAME SCHEDULE | B J B WOMEN’S SOCCER at USC-Spartanburg, 4 p.m. Toda I . MEN’S SOCCER at the IP-Fort Wayne Showcase H Hi ^ Friday and Saturda; H H Ik W VOLLEYBALL at the Sun Devil Challenge, Aug. 31-Sept. H H F FOOTBALL vs. Boise State, Sept. CROSS COUNTRY, Western Carolina Invitational, Sept. Carolina faces lofty expectations in 2001 Football team ranked in both preseason polls BY KYLE ALMOND THE GAMECOCK . After the USC football team went winless in 1999, few envi sioned it having the type of suc cess it had in 2000. Riding a 21: game losing streak, even some of the most optimistic Gamecock fans were looking for just baby steps in coach Lou Holtz’s'second season. However, Holtz and the Game cocks believed in themselves and went on to have one of the best sea sons in team history, finishing 8 4 on the year and 19th in the final APpoll. Now USC faces a new chal lenge. They will no longer be able to take opposing teams by sur prise. A season after they were the laughingstock of Division I foot ball, the Gaiilecocks are now one of the hunted. USC is ranked in both of the major preseason polls. The AP has the Gamecocks ranked No. 21, while the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll has them ranked No. 22. National publications like The Sporting News and Street & Smith's have Carolina in their Top 25 as well. Even the USC faithful is ex pecting big things out of its team this season. The athletics depart ment sold out season tickets in July. Considering all that, perhaps the biggest obstacle in USC’s way this season isn’t Clemson, Florida or Tennessee. Rather, it could be living up to the huge expectations that-come hand in hand with suc cess. Holtz isn’t concerned about all that. “The only expectation I worry about is ours," he said. “We have high expectations, but we do every year. With our fans, I can’t contain that. Their enthusiasm is excep tionally high and I hope we don’t disappoint them. (But) the main thing is to live up to our expecta tions.” Holtz also downplays the no tion that teams will play better against the Gamecocks just be cause they will be more focused. “Playing with confidence is very important,” Holtz explained. “[Opposing teams] will point to ward usrbut they also won’t play as loose and relaxed as they have in the past. Maybe we’ll play with more confidence and not make as many mistakes.” Despite their recent success, the Gamecocks are not content with one good season. “We still have a long way to go,” said linebacker and presea son All-American Kalimba Ed wards. “We are not where we rSeason Opener #21 USC VS. BOISE STATE Sept. 1, 7 p.m. Williams-Brice Stadium were, but we are certainly not where we want to be yet.” Cornerback Sheldon Brown acknowledges the polls and pre season hype, but still claims that little is actually expected out of the team. “I don’t think that people ex pect anything from us,” Brown said. “We don’t get respect from them and never had on a regular basis. Even if we have a good sea son, they still think it is a fluke.” With all this unusual hoopla surrounding them, the Gamecocks remain grounded and will contin ue to approach each game the same way they have all along. “We don’t take any team for granted,” Edwards said. “We lost 21 games straight at one point, so each game is important.” Holtz agrees, knowing that just because his team is ranked, games won’t become "any easier. Every week is a challenge,” Holtz said. “Let’s go be the best we ♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE B7 _: .. .. + a Phil Petty and the No. 21 Gamecocks surprised the nation last season, going 8-4 and knocking off Ohio State in the Outback Bowl, photo by travis lynn Men’s soccer team more than ready to take on nation’s best i Jordan Smith is expected to fill in at left back for Chris Lockwood, who graduated this year, photo by travis lynn BY KYLE ALMOND THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s soccer team has a legitimate chance to win the school its first national champi onship, but the long road to glory promises to be a bumpy one. This season, the No. 17 Game cocks will play seven other teams currently ranked in the NSCAA/adidas Top 25, and that’s not even including games against perennial college soccer powers like Penn State, Rutgers and Cal State Fullerton. Road games at No. 3 SMU, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 8 Clemson and No. 23 UCLA high light a brutal schedule that would have most head coaches reeling. Not Mark Berson. USC’s head coach is confident of his team’s abilities and says he’s anxious to see it in action. “The guys have worked very hard in preseason,” Berson said. “I’ve been real pleased with their attitude, I’ve been real pleased with their performance, and I’ve been real pleased with the reten tion we’v.e had from spring prac tice. We had a very good spring practice, and the returning play ers have picked right up where they left off in the spring.” Berson can afford to relax with nine starters returning from a Men’s Soccer VITAL STATISTICS Head Coach: Mark Berson Stadium: “The Graveyard", Eugene E. Stone III Stadium 2000 Record: 12-4-3 2000 Finish: Lost 1-0 to Duke in first round of NCAA Tournament Starters returning: 9 of 11 Top returners: DTim Glowienka, FJoey Worthen, F Jordan Quinn All eyes on: GK Michael Bachmeyer, filling in for former All-American Henry Ring team that finished 12-4-3 last year and was seeded No. 7 overall going into the NCAA Tournament. Back for another year are the Game cocks’ two top scorers from last season, Jordan Quinn and Ryan Daley, who accounted for over half of the team’s goals. USC did suffer a huge loss with the graduation of All-American goalkeeper Henry Ring, but with a group of talented young keepers led by junior Michael Bachmeyer, Berson doesn’t expect too much of a drop-off. “[Bachmeyer] has the edge right now,” Berson said regarding the starting position. “He has the experience. But Zac (Jordan) has ♦ SOCCER, SEE PAGE B9 MLB draft cleans out Gamecock roster Floyd brothers still have yet to sign with Phils BY KYLE ALMOND THE (iAMECOCK Stanford might have defeated USC’s baseball team in the NCAA Super Regionals, but the Major League Baseball Draft did a lot more damage to the Gamecocks just days later. Six Gamecocks in all were drafted by professional clubs over the two-day event, including ace pitcher Kip Bouknight, college baseball’s National Player of the Year in 2000. Although Bouknight, Bryon Jeffcoat and Tim Whittaker were seniors, juniors Marcus Mc Beth, Michael Floyd and Brett Price were also selected. Even three USC signees were chosen in the draft. Floyd’s broth er Gavin was picked No. 4 overall by the Philadelphia Phillies straight out of high school, and re cruits Charles Lisk and Matthew Campbell were taken. Most of the players drafted signed with their teams and have already seen action in the minors, but the Floyd brothers have not. If a deal isn’t struck by the time the players attend their first class today, the two will be Gamecocks in 2002. The Phillies have been trying to come to terms with Gavin since they drafted him, but negotiations have been unsuccessful. Philadel phia first offered Gavin $2.6 mil lion to sign, but the Floyd family rejected it and countered with a $7 million offer. This past week, the Phillies tried again with a new $4 million proposal, but once again, the Floyds turned the offer down. “They know we were not fa vorably impressed with [the pro posal],” Rodney Floyd, Gavin and Michael’s father, told the Philadel phia Inquirer. “It’s been a much slower process than I thought it would be.” Barring any last-second deals, the Floyd brothers will be in gar net and black next season. The instant the two brothers attend their first class, they can no longer sign with the Phillies. If that happens, Gavin would not be eligible to play professionally un til the end of his junior season, and Michael would have to finish out his last season of college eligi bility. “It’s always been a dream ol mine to play with my brother,” Michael Floyd said a few weeks ago. “He may be younger than me, but I really look up to him. He’s got all the tools necessary for the big leagues, but only time will tell on our decisions.” ♦ DRAFT, SEE PAGE B6 WHILE YOU WERE GONE... USC misses out on Omaha once again For second year in a row, baseball team falls one run short of College World Series BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK For the second straight year, a highly-ranked Gamecock baseball squad just barely missed the Col lege World Series. For the second straight year, they dropped the de ciding Game 3 of the NCAA Super Regionals by a score of 3-2. Last year, Louisiana-Lafayette denied South Carolina a trip to Om aha. This year, Stanford accom plished the task. Despite the talent of seniors Kip Bouknight, Brennan Dees, Bryon Jeffcoat, Tripp Kelly and Tim Whit taker, the Gamecocks were unable to overcome their Pac-10 opponent. After the loss, USC head coach Ray Tanner felt bad not only for his team, but for his seniors as well. “I’m very disappointed, espe cially for our seniors,” Tanner said. “I probably wanted their season to extend as much as any senior class I’ve ever had.” The Gamecocks started pitcher Blake Taylor for Game 3, despite Taylor having pitched two innings the day before. Taylor pitched four shutout innings before giving up a hit to Stanford’s Jonny Ash to open the fifth. Andy Topham followed with his seventh home run of the season to give Stanford a 2-0 lead. Marcus McBeth responded for Carolina in the bottom of the fifth with his 17th home run, cutting Stanford’s lead 2-1. Bouknight, the team’s ace and former National Player of the Year, was brought in to start the sixth in ning in relief of Taylor, but the Car dinal increased the lead to 3-1 when Ash doubled in Ryan Garko. USC pulled closer in the eighth, when Tripp Kelly’s double brought in Whittaker. With two outs in the ninth, Whittaker appeared to have con nected on his fifth hit of the game, but he could not get the ball past Stanford shortstop Scott Dragice vich. Dragicevich’s diving catch not only ended the game, but also the Gamecocks’ season. USC went home with a 49-19 record for the year. “I was trying to do all I could to ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE B8 Odom picks up four players in first recruiting season as a Gamecock BY PRESTON BAINES THE GAMECOCK New USC head basketball coach Dave Odom got his first recruiting season with the Gamecocks off and running, fill ing all four available scholar ships. Odom had said when he was hired last spring that USC need ed more SEC-type athletes, and he feels he accomplished that this offseason. While the class lacks mar quee names, it still has strong athletes that should compete for playing time. Among the four signees is Issa Konare, a 6-7 forward out of Dakar, Senegal. Konare attend The New Class Issa Konare F 6-7 220 Dakar, Senegal Carlos Powell F 6-7 220 Florence, S.C. John Chappell F/C 6-10 235 New Berlin, Wise. Chris Warren G/F 6-5 195 Garland, Texas ed Brighton Academy in Maine where he averaged 14 points and eight rebounds per game. Konare chose USC over West Virginia and East Carolina. His coach at Brighton Academy claims he is “well polished both offensively and defensively.” The other two high school players taken by the Gamecocks were Carlos Powell and John Chappell. Powell attended Wilson High School in nearby Florence and was teammates with one ol the country’s top prospects, high school junior Major Wingate. Powell, a 6-7 forward averaged 20 points and 11 re bounds in his senior year at Wil son. Odom likes what he sees ir Powell. “[Powell] always intrigued me as the kind of player who il ♦ RECRUITS, SEE PAGE B7