The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 17, 2001, Page 15, Image 15
AROUND
THE SEC
COMPILED BY PRESTON BAINES
Florida knocked off
in upset of the year
The then-No. 1 Florida Gators,
who looked invincible until last
week, fell victim to the upset bug
that hit the SEC Saturday night,
falling to Auburn 23-20. The
Tigers came into the weekend
looking like the overmatched
team after beating less-than
stellar competition and getting
trampled by a good-at-best
Syracuse team. But Auburn
found out what can happen when
you stop the Gators on the
ground: Steve Spurrier gets
impatient. Auburn intercepted
four Rex Grossman passes as he
continuously hurled the ball in
the second half.
Crimson Tide can’t
hold on — again
The Crimson Tide fans could
be getting impatient already. Eli
Manning led a late comeback to
lead Ole Miss past Bama 27-24.
This year, the Tide has blown
leads in all three of their losses
to teams with a combined record
of 15-2.
Georgia beats Vandy,
but it costs them
No. 17 Georgia won easily at
Vanderbilt 30-14, but got bad
news after the victory. Leading
rusher Musa Smith ran all over
the Commodores but injured his
hip in the process. Smith will be
out with a hip flexor for at least
this week’s game against
Kentucky.
Mississippi State
singing the blues
Mississippi St. came into the
season with hopes as high as in
any of its previous seasons. Now
the Bulldogs will be scrambling
to make a bowl after a 21-9 loss to
Troy State, a southern Alabama
school in its transition year
between Division I-AA and I-A.
MSU has dropped four straight
and is 0-3 in the conference going
into this weekend’s battle with
archrival LSU.
Manning, Walker get
player of the week
Mississippi’s Eli Manning
passed for a career-high 325
yards and led a last-minute drive
to beat Alabama and win
offensive player of the week
honors in the SEC. Manning’s
performance wasn’t good enough
to stop Alabama’s Rashaud
Walker from having a big game,
though. Walker received
defensive honors after getting
seven tackles against the Rebels.
c
SPORTS BRIEFS
Derek Watson
accepted into PTI
Fifth Circuit Court Solicitor
Barney Giese has approved
junior tailback Derek Watson
for pre-trial intervention.
Watson was accused of
punching a 19-year-old former
USC student in the arm. PTI
usually involves community
service and other forms of
charity. If Watson completes
PTI, the charges will be
dropped. The charges could
have landed Watson a $500 fine
and/or 30 days in jail.
USC-Tennessee to
be on television
The Oct. 27 football game
with No. 11 Tennessee has been
changed to accommodate
national television. The game
will take place on ESPN2 (6
p.m.) or ESPN (7:45 p.m.) in
Knoxville, Tenn.
Men’s soccer beats
Gardner-Webb
The No. 18 South Carolina
men’s soccer team got an easy
victory over Gardner-Webb on
Monday night at Eugene Stone
III Stadium. The Gamecocks (8
2) got off to a slow start, leading
only 1-0 at halftime over the
undermanned Bulldogs (4-10)
off a Ryan Daley goal.
The second half brought
more success on offense for
USC, led by three players who
had yet to score previously on
the season. USC’s assist leader,
Jordan Smith, recorded his
first goal of the year. Jack
Cummings and Ray Fischer
also registered their first goals
of the season. Tony Vitagliano
added his second goal of the
year.
The Gamecocks’ next action
will come this weekend when
they play host to the Gamecock
Soccer Classic, which will
include the College of
Charleston, Maryland and
Rutgers.
Volleyball splits
weekend action
The No. 22 USC volleyball
team fell at the hands of the
Arkansas Lady Backs but
redeemed themselves with a
victory Sunday against the LSU
Tigers.
Carolina (12-3,5-3 SEC)
played each game close against
the Hogs (10-5,7-0) but fell 3-1
for the match. The difference in
the match came in blocks, as
the Lady Backs had 17 blocks
compared to seven for the Lady
Gamecocks.
USC’s match against LSU
(10-6,5-2) was similar to the
match against Arkansas,
except this time Carolina came
out on top. Head coach Kim
Christopher thinks the
Gamecocks still have some
work to do.
“We were missing the beat a
little bit today. Today we
changed some things in our
lineup to see if we could get
more production,”
Christopher said. “We are
trying to get our offense more
in sync — that’s why we
changed our lineup a little.”
Swimming and
diving finish fourth
Two Gamecocks won events
en route to a fourth place finish
out of five teams.
Senior All-American Zsolt
Gaspar won the men’s 100
meter butterfly, and sophomore
Istvan Batazi also won the 400
IM for the men.
Carolina also finished strong
in the relays. The men’s 200
meter freestyle relay team
finished second with a time of
1:23.23, while the women
finished third with a time of
1:36.23.
Men’s tennis makes
Ga. Tech semifinals
Top-seeded senior Rodrigo
Pacheco made the singles
semifinals of the B Draw before
being upset by unseeded Fabio
Campos in straight sets 6-3,6-2.
In doubles, the team of Ben
Atkinson and David Nelson
drew the same fate, falling in
the semifinals to Fillnow and
Rogers.
Women’s golf
struggles to 13th
The Lady Gamecocks golf
team shot a final-round 334 and
had a three-day total of962 to
finish in 13th place at the
Mercedes-Benz Women’s
Championship in Knoxville,
Tenn. All-American Kristy
McPherson shot a 12-over 228 to
tie for 14th place overall.
Purdue came from behind to
overtake top-ranked Duke and
national champion Georgia to
win the crown with a total of
902.
FINAL USC SCORES:
T14. Kristy McPherson
82-72-74228
T38. Kory Thompson
75-81-80 236
T51. Adrienne Gautreaux
79-80-84243
T55. Reetta Laakkonen
79-78-88245
r<
T59. Kacy Thompson
78-80-88246
■. T67. Marci Robinson
83-80-89 252
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Purdue 297-300-305 902
2. Auburn 299-298-310 907
T3. Duke 293-302-315 910
T3. Georgia 294-300'-316 910
13. SOUTH CAROLINA
318-310-334 962
Women’s cross
country finishes 10th
Competing with a
competitive field in Greenville,
S.C., the Lady Gamecocks cross
country team finished 10th at
the Furman Invitational.
Brigham Young took home the
title with 25 points. The
Gamecocks finished with a
score of304, led by Jenny Lake
and Rachel Smith. Lake had a
finishing time of 23:35 and
Smith had 23:57. USC will
compete in the SEC
Championships at Auburn
University in two weeks.
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