University of South Carolina Libraries
Vanderbilt Holtz says victory builds confidence CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 the head of punter Joe Webb and through the end zone. The Gamecocks’ last safety came against Vanderbilt in 1999, when they had two in an 11-10 loss. After scoring only one touch down during the first half, the Commodores tried to catch up af ter the break. Vanderbilt defend er Harold Lercus intercepted a Petty pass and returned it 34 yards to the USC 19-yard line. The Commodores capitalized on the next play with a Greg Zolman touchdown pass to tight end Tom Simone, making the score 19-14. Carolina quickly responded on its ensuing drive, which ended with a 15-yard touchdown run by Andrew Pinnock. The score gave USC a 26-14 lead with ten minutes left in the third quarter. Towards the end of the third quarter, USC scored with a pass from Petty to Chavez Donnings from 14 yards out, giving the ju nior his first score of the year. At the 13:44 mark in the fourth quarter, junior quarterback Corey Jenkins continued to take the game out of Vanderbilt’s reach with a 5-yard touchdown run. He faked an inside handoff to Pinnock, then carried around the left side to give USC a 39-14 lead. The Commodores failed to get a first down on their next posses sion, and the Gamecocks put in their second-string players to wind down the clock. USC put two running backs past the 100-yard mark in the game. Juniors Andrew Pinnock and Derek Watson each had 105 yards. Afterward, Petty said most of USC’s success on the ground could be credited to a solid offensive line. “The offensive line deserves a lot of credit. I can’t remember one play where a guy came free. They really showed up,” Petty said. The Gamecocks set season highs for rushing yards (356) and points. The 46 points also are the most accumulated by the Gamecocks in the Holtz era. The South Carolina defense wanted to make a statement and did so, dismantling the Commodore’s offense. The Gamecocks limited Vanderbilt to 194 yards, including 70 in the sec ond half. “The defense was very oppor tunistic,” Holtz said. “They gave up some big plays, and that’s not like us, but overall I thought they played very focused.” The Gamecocks had allowed op ponents to convert 42 percent of their third-down plays. But against the Commodores they only allowed the Commodores an impressive four of 13 tries. Two of those came on a 92-yard drive in the second quarter that resulted in Vanderbilt’s first touchdown. Kalimba Edwards again played as a down lineman most of the game. The Gamecocks played a package of six defensive backs most of the game. “I felt like putting Kalimba Edwards down, moving Kenny Harney to the outside and insert ing (Jeremiah) Garrison in the middle was our best chance,” Holtz said. The Gamecocks go on the road to Knoxville, Tenn., to play the No. 9 Volunteers. The game will be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. Saturday. “Our victory against Vanderbilt has given us more con fidence as a team, but our next game against Tennessee is going to be tough,” Holtz said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Women’s soccer drops a pair, hurts tourney hopes BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK The women’s soccer team (6-6 3,1-5-1) dropped two SEC matches over the past vyeekend and con tinued to hurt their hopes of mak ing the SEC tournament. GEORGIA 1, USC 0 For their fourth straight SEC matchup, the Lady Gamecocks lost by a 1-0 decision, this time to Georgia (9-4-1, 4-2-0). After the match, USC head coach Shelley Smith was complimentary of her team’s play. “They came out playing hard and played a good game,” Smith said. “They didn’t have too many chances, and I think we finally started to play well in the second half. We just didn’t put it together offensively.” The only goal of the game came at the 65th minute when Georgia’s Nicole Greathead put one between the pipes off a deflection for the only score the Lady Bulldogs would need. Despite giving up the goal, USC goalkeeper Elise Matthews still had a strong outing with seven saves. To further add to South Carolina’s woes, senior co-captain Lydia Bienias left the game in the first half with an ankle injury. TENNESSEE 3, USC 1 Carolina wasn’t able to hold onto their 1-0 lead in Knoxville as the Lady Volunteers (9-4, 5-1) mounted a comeback in the sec ond half to win the match 3-1. The Lady Gamecocks only managed six shots the entire game. “We had a very good first half, ” Smith said. “The second half Tennessee came out strong and stepped it up. The second goal they scored really hurt us. We let them have that one and took the mo mentum.” Volleyball First game features many lead changes CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 to offense, and we made some good decisions. It was the first time since late September that we were able to put together good back to back matches.” The first game featured con stant lead changes until Carolina broke away from the 14-13 score. Kentucky pulled within four near the end of the game but were un able to take it as the Lady Gamecocks won 30-25. In the second game, Carolina led for most of the game until Kentucky staged a rally and tied the game at 24. USC went on to score three out of four points to take the lead and finally won the game off a Wildcat service error that made the final 30-27. The Gamecocks wasted no time in the third game, as they quickly went up 12-4 en route to their 30-17 win. Carolina will next play Auburn at home Friday night, and then take on the Alabama Crimson Tide next Sunday. Sophomore midfielder Melissa Hutson picked up the first score of the game and her sec ond of the season at the 20:06 mark. The shot right outside of the penal ty box put the Lady Gamecocks ahead 1-0. Once the second half began, the Lady Volunteers wasted no time in fighting back as Kayla Lockaby scored off a deflection six minutes in. Just more than a minute later, Sue Flamini put in a direct kick to put Tennessee up 2-1. The Lady Volunteers made the final score of the game when Keeley Dowling scored off a penalty kick with eleven minutes remaining. Tennessee had strong offensive play throughout the game, out shooting the Lady Gamecocks 26-6. USC goalkeeper Elise Matthews posted nine saves in the game. South Carolina returns home Fridayto play host to Mississippi . Despite USC’s poor SEC record, coach Smith remained optimistic about her team’s chance in SEC play. “We are still in position to get into the SEC tournament with wins in these next two matches,” Smith said. “Our team has worked hard the entire season, and our players are fighting hard to get some wins. We have been right there in all our SEC matches and have shown we are an improved team this season.” Soccer Gamecocks again fail to win tourney CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 “To outshoot a team like Maryland shows we came back with a great deal of intensity in the second half,” he said. “I give the team a lot of credit.” Buete was named the Most Valuable Offensive Player for the tournament. He also earned a spot on the All-Tournament team, along with teammates Beckett Hollenbach, Sumed Ibrahim and Siba Mohammed. Rutgers’ Guy Abrahamsom was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Defensive Player. He made the All-Tournament team with fellow Scarlet Knights Todd Moser and El Bialy. Joey Worthen and Ryan Stocking represented the Gamecocks oh the All Tournament team. Charleston, who won the Classic last season, went 0-2 this year. The Cougars also lost to Rutgers 1-0 Friday. USC, which has won only one of its last four games, will ' travel to Los Angeles next weekend to take part in anoth er tournament, the UCLA Invitational. The Gamecocks will face Cal State-Fullerton on Friday and then play host to the Bruins on Sunday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksportsfcvhotmail.com. Offense Watson, Pinnock both rush for 100 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 yard rushers in a game since last year’s meeting with the Commodores. And Holtz gave the two credit for more than their yardage. “What you don’t see is how well they block,” Holtz said. The Gamecocks ran 90 plays and picked up 34 first downs, more than four times as many as Vanderbilt. USC also had its longest drive of the season, going 92 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. But the performance was not all positive. Harold Lercius picked Petty off early in the third quarter. It was Vanderbilt’s first interception of the season and the third time Petty has been picked off this year. The defense also did its part, keeping Vanderbilt silent through most of the game. The Commodores picked up just 194 total yards on offense, and quar terback Greg Zolman was 7-20 with two interceptions, includ ing Antione Nesmith’s first ca reer pick. Holtz said he had been en couraged by the practices run ning up to Saturday’s game but stressed that next week’s matchup with Tennessee would be difficult. “We’ve got a real big challenge next week,” Holtz said. Opponents have gained less than 275 yards a game against the Volunteers, including just 71 yards a game rushing. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecoqksports@hotmail.com. RANKINGS AND SEC STANDINGS SEC football standings All statistics are current as of Oct.21. EASTERN DIVISION CONF. OVERALL South Carolina 5-1_6-1 Florida__ 3-1_5-1 Georgia4-15-1 Tennessee_3-1_4-1 Vanderbilt 0-41-5 Kentucky 0-5 1-6 WESTERN DIVISION CONF. OVERALL Auburn 4-0_6-1 Ole Miss 2-1 5-1 Alabama 2-3_ 3-4 Louisiana State 2-2 4-2 Arkansas 1-3_3-3 Mississippi State 0-4 1-5 Want to participate in The Gamecock Sports challenge? Each week, The Gamecock will pick the winners of several games around the countiy, and we will have a slot for a selected reader. Give us your picks by e-mailing gamecocksports@hotmail.com or coming by the newsroom, Russell House Room 333. Be sure to include name, major, year and a phone number or e-mail. This week’s games: ♦ NO. 12 SOUTH CAROLINA AT NO. 9 TENNESSEE ♦ NO. 15 GEORGIA VS. NO. 6 FLORIDA* ♦ OLE MISS AT LSU ♦ NO. 2 OKLAHOMA AT NO. 3 NEBRASKA ♦ NO. 11 OREGON AT NO. 14 WASHINGTON ST. ♦ NO. 10 MARYLAND AT NO. 19 FLORIDA ST. ♦ CLEMSON AT WAKE FOREST ♦ JACKSONVILLE, FLA. Send your picks in this week and check The Gamecock on Friday to see the picks of the staff, as well as reader picks. LAST WEEK’S WINNER: Senior writer Rick Johnston went a perfect 7-0. FOR MORE ON THIS WEEKEND’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL ACTION, VISIT DAILYGAMECOCK.COM Associated Press Top 25 1. Miami 2. Oklahoma 3. Nebraska 4. UCLA 5. Virginia Tech 6. Florida 7. Texas 8. Michigan 9. Tennessee 10. Mainland 11. Oregon 10 cm ITU PADm INA 13. Washington 14. Washington State 15. Georgia •16. Brigham Young 17. Auburn 18. Fresno State 19. Florida State 20. Stanford 21. Georgia Tech 22. Illinois 23. North Carolina 24. Purdue 25. Colorado ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll 1. Miami 2. Oklahoma 3. Nebraska 4. Virginia Tech 5. UCLA 6. Florida 7. Texas 8. Michigan 9. Tennessee 10. Brigham Young 11. Washington 12. Maryland 13. Oregon 14. SOUTH CAROLINA 15. Washington State 16. Georgia 17. Auburn 18. Florida State 19. Fresno State 20. Purdue 21. Georgia Tech 22. Stanford 23. Illinois 24. Texas A&M 25. Clemson No one told you the hardest part of being an engineer would be finding your first job. Of course, it’s still possible to get the high-tech work you want by joining the U.S. Air Force. You can leverage your degree immediately and get hands-on experience with some of the most sophisticated technology on earth.To find out how to get your career off the ground, call 1-800-423-USAF or visit our Web site at airforce.com. i U.S. AIR FORCE *