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SPORTS BRIEFS Men’s soccer wins, turns attention to NCAA Tournament Robert Rosenberg's golden goal in the 107th minute gave the No. 19 USC men's soccer team a 5-4 win at Florida International on Saturday night. With the double-overtime vic tory, the Gamecocks finish the reg ular season with a record of 12-4 2. The Golden Panthers finish 10-7. As the regular season comes to a close, USC now turns its atten tion to the NCAA Tournament, which starts this week. First round games will be played Thursday. The tournament brack ets will be released at 3 p.m. Monday, and the games will be televised on Fox Sports South. Carolina likely has a spot locked up in the tournament, but it’s hoping to be awarded a first round home game. Swimming team overcomes Clemson The USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had strong wins over the Clemson Tigers on Friday evening at the Carolina Natatorium. The men’s squad (5-1) won a decisive 144-98 victory, while the women’s team (4-2) won 160 83. After the meet, USC head coach Don Gibb was thrilled to knock off his team’s rival. “It is nice to come out on top this year against Clemson,” Gibb said. “I think our team is learning how to compete at a high level, and we have been finishing with some very competitive times.” Clemson Jenkins scores game-winning TD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 other throw in the end zone to pre serve a 10-9 Carolina lead going into the half. Getting the ball back on their 35-yard line, USC used a series of rushes, with one pass, to chip away at the clock. At the Clemson 25, Weaver finished the drive with a 42-yard field goal to give Carolina a 13-9 lead and a little more breathing room. The drive took almost eight minutes off the clock. On another USC drive late in the third quarter, about ten yards out of the endzone, Petty scram bled and was downed just short of the goal line. With a fourth-and one on the goal line, Jenkins re entered and banged it home to put Carolina up for good. Wise clock management took more time away from Clemson, with the 14-play drive lasting about six minutes and going 80 yards. Down 20-9, the Tigers kept the game interesting. Dantzler scram bled for two 17-yard runs before zipping an 11-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Hamilton. Looking for two points, Dantzler’s pass landed in the hands of USC defensive back Andre Goodman, but Clemson was just five points down. After recovering the onside kick by the Tigers, the Gamecocks proceeded to eat time off the clock. Nearly two and a half minutes of rushing the ball, including a 19 yard run from Pinnock, ended when Carolina couldn’t convert a fourth down. With 17 seconds re maining, two Dantzler heaves went incomplete, and the fans stormed the field at the final gun, rejoicing in South Carolina’s first victory in five years over its in state rival. Now the Gamecocks (8-3, 5-3 SEC), ranked 18th in both major polls, can wait for their bowl invi tation. While nothing will be con firmed for at least another few weeks, Carolina is still a favorite for the Citrus Bowl, though the Peach and Outback Bowls are still options. The unranked Tigers (5-5,3-4) must beat Duke at home on Dec. 1 to become bowl eligible. When asked about which bowl game he’d prefer to go to, Holtz an swered, “I’d really prefer to go to the Rose Bowl. I don’t know if we’ll get invited, but that’s my first choice.” He continued, “It puts a good taste in your mouth. I’m hap py for our fans and I’m happy for our players.” i Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Volleyball falls in SEC second round BY COURTNEY KELLER THE GAMECOCK The Lady Gamecocks volley ball team (19-5) defeated their ghost of the past, the Lady Volunteers (15-11), Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. However, their run toward the title ended at the hands of the Lady Razorbacks (20-10). The Lady Gamecocks entered the SEC volleyball tournament in Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the Lady Volunteers, with whom they split the regular season se ries 1-1. Carolina upended Tennessee in three out of five games Friday, posting scores of 31-29, 20-30,17 30, 30-27 and 15-9. The Lady Gamecocks took game one, but the Lady Volunteers took the next two games. However, Carolina would not give up in game four and forced a pivotal game five. The win by Carolina marked the first time in five years that Tennessee has lost a first-round match. All-SEC team members Cally Plummer, Berna Dwyer and Nadia Sefferovich led the Lady Gamecocks. Junior right-side hit ter Plummer made 20 kills, 17 digs and two service aces for the team. Junior outside-hitter Sefferovich added 15 kills, and junior middle blocker Dwyer contributed nine of the teams 69 kills against Tennessee. Even though Tennessee led USC in hitting percentage (.254 to .184), digs (71 to 65) and service aces (12 to 5), Carolina held on for the victory. The win advanced Carolina to the semifinals against the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday. “I want to give a lot of credit to Tennessee,” said Carolina head coach Kim Christopher. “They outworked us in games two and three. In game four, we were able to fight back and match their ef fort on the defensive side of the game. We played aggressive, but we weren.’t near as aggressive against Tennessee as we were back in Columbia at our place. Cally Plummer was consistent throughout the whole match. Nadia Sefferovich picked up her game in game four. We had a lot of errors in games three and four, but we picked it up at the end.” Christopher continued, “Arkansas is really solid, and their offensive attack primarily comes from three players, and if we can contain those players, we will have a good shot at beating them. I didn’t feel like we were very sharp offensively tonight, and that is something that we will need to be if we want to beat a good team like Arkansas.” After advancing to the semifi nal match, the Lady Gamecocks would end yet another run toward the SEC crown when the Lady Razorbacks toppled them three games to one. The Lady Gamecocks played great offensively but could not keep the Lady Razorbacks from coming out on top after four tough matches. In game one, Arkansas jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead, but Carolina would come back with a 10-2 run that was capped off by a Sefferovich kill. Arkansas would then come back to tie the game at 16, but Carolina again jumped out to take a 20-18 lead. Arkansas would not give up and tied the game at 23. In the end, Carolina sealed the game, 30-28, with a kill by Sefferovich. In games two (28-30), three (28 30) and four (24-30), the Lady Razorbacks would jump off to a quick lead, but the Lady Gamecocks would always make an effort to come back. The two teams exchanged point for point throughout the games. However, Carolina made a few costly mis takes that Arkansas turned into points. Those points were just enough for the Lady Gamecocks to lose the match. The win for Arkansas meant a spot in the fi nals against Florida. “Arkansas played well,” Christopher said. “They blocked us well, especially our left side. In order for us to beat a team like that, we have to have production from everyone in all positions and I didn’t feel like that was the case today. I thought Nia Mackie and Sam Alban played very well, but we just weren’t able to produce on the left side and that hurt us. The key was to get effective serves, and we didn’t do that. Another key was to pass well, and we didn’t do that as well as we should have.” The Lady Gamecocks were led in kills by Sefferovich with 16, Plummer-with 14, Alban with 13, Mackie with 12 and Yajaira Cadet with 11. Megan Hosp posted a sea son-high 66 assists. The next match for the Lady Gamecocks will be against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Nov. 24 at 2:00 p.m. at the Volleyball Competition Facility in Columbia. Also on Friday, Florida defeat ed Georgia, Arkansas beat Kentucky and Alabama defeated LSU. On Saturday, Florida beat . Alabama and advanced to the fi nal round. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Milica Perovic and the Lady Gamecocks got past Tennessee this weekend, but couldn’t beat Arkansas in the SEC Tournament, special to the gamecock Women’s basketball starts 2-0 BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK The University of South Carolina women’s basketball team (2-0) hit the court over the weekend and walked out with two victories to open their regu lar season. The Lady Gamecocks downed the Lady Paladins on Friday night, then took out Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday. USC 94, Furman 74 Behind Shaun Gortman’s 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, the Lady Gamecocks cruised to an easy win over their in-state opponents. The win marked the 200th victory for the Lady Gamecocks at the Carolina Coliseum. Down early 32-23, Carolina pulled out a 13-2 run with five minutes remaining in the half to claim the lead, and the Lady Gamecocks went into the locker room with a 36-34 edge. Furman continued to hold on until 14 minutes remaining in the half, when South Carolina began to break away. USC went up 74 61 with less than seven minutes to go as they put the game out of reach. Senior Teresa Geter tallied nine points and eight rebounds, while Jocelyn Penn pulled in 10 points. USC head coach Susan Walvius was not happy with the way her team started out but was satisfied with their adjustments. “I don’t think our team was pleased with themselves in the first half,” Walvius said. “You’ve got to get motivated by your de fense, and we did that tonight in the second half.” USC 72, Louisiana Lafayette 61 Ines Ajanovic had a career day Sunday, scoring 17 points and nabbing six rebounds during Carolina’s win over Louisiana Lafayette. The Lady Gamecocks were down 17-13 to the Ragin’ Cajuns in the first half before breaking loose on a 21-2 run to ensure them of their second straight win. After the game, Walvius re mained critical of her team. “We were very cold shooting the ball from the outside,” she said. “But we hustled, got second shot op portunities, and you’ve got to be pleased with that.” Penn had another big game for the Lady Gamecocks with a team high 18 points. Carolina also post ed a school record for rebounds with 35. The prior mark was 32. Carolina next hits the court Nov. 24 when it travel to Durham, N.C., for the Duke Women’s Basketball Classic. The- Lady Gamecocks will face Missouri in the first round of the tournament. Comments on this story? E-rfiail gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Win A Scooter! fat! Safe ] Howto Progress! Ray-Ban Revo Anarchy Costa Maui Jim & More •No purchase required See sloie lor tutl details Drawing held 12/20/01 You pick up a lot of important survival tools in ROTC. Starting with a tuition check. First things first. Pay the bills, get through college, then get on with the rest of your life. Fortunately, joining Air Force ROTC can help you do all this and more. You could earn up to 100 percent of your tuition, fees and book costs — plus up to $400 of additional spending money every month. Not to mention gaining skills you’ll use your entire career — like leadership, team-building and physical fitness. To find out how, visit afrotc.com or call 1-800-522-0033, ext. 2091. U.S. AIR FORCE R*0*T*C