The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 09, 2002, Image 7
GAME SCHEDULE
_ MEN’S GOLF at Kiawah Island Intercollegiate in Charleston,
CONTACT US „„„„„„ , Monday-Tuesday
VOLLEYBALL vs. Clemson, 7 p.m. Tuesday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Clemson, 7 p.m. Wednesday
E-mail us at gamecochsports@hotmail.com MEN’S SOCCER vs. New Hampshire, 7:30 p.m. Friday
USC fumbles its way to first loss
Turnovers
translate into
first defeat
for Carolina
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE GAMECOCK
If the number seven is lucky, the
Virginia Cavaliers would certainly agree.
With six lost fumbles and an intercep
tion, turnovers doomed the Gamecocks
on Saturday night as USC lost to the
Cavaliers 34-21 in Charlottesville, Va.
USC head coach Lou Holtz could not
comprehend the outcome, but he pointed
out Virginia’s positives.
“How many turnovers did we have?
Seven? It seemed like more,” he said.
“Seven turnovers and 11 penalties. I don’t
ever remember being in a situation like
that.
“But talking about our turnovers
doesn’t give Virginia credit. Virginia
played very well. They converted on third
down. They made the nlavs. and we
didn’t.”
Things looked promising early for
Carolina (1-1) after Matthew Thomas
caught Corey Jenkins’ 10-yard pass for a
touchdown in the first quarter. Thomas
also returned a kickoff for a touchdown
in the second quarter to give USC a 21-20
edge going into halftime.
But Virginia (1-2) closed out the game
in the third quarter, scoring two passing
touchdowns — the second from Heath
Miller, a tight end originally recruited as
a quarterback — and shutting down the
USC offense.
Jenkins was Carolina’s leading rush
er and passer for the second week in a
row, with 119 yards through the air and
94 yards on the ground, but his sloppiness
with the football cost USC a chance to
come back. The senior accounted for three
fumbles and an interception in the game,
and his last fumble — on the Virginia 5
yard line with 6:17 remaining, sealed the
Gamecocks’ fate.
Jenkins, making only his second ca
reer start at quarterback, was apologetic
after the game.
“It only takes a split second to make a
bad decision, and I made a bad decision
four times,” he told The State newspaper.
“I've just got to let it go. I'm not glad it
happened, but I’m glad it happened early.
“I just hope the guys still have faith in
me to be their quarterback.”
Holtz was asked about Jenkins trying
too hard, thereby causing the giveaways.
“He may be,” he responded. “He’s try
ing to make plays. But sometimes you
have to eliminate the bad plays. You don’t
always need the great play.”
James Adkisson was the Gamecocks’
receiving leader with three catches for 39
yards, but he left the game early with a
knee injury.
The Gamecocks’ defense, the question
mark going into the game after allowing
419 yards to New Mexico State in the sea
son opener, allowed 339 yards to Virginia.
Defensive linemen Langston Moore and
Moe Thompson each had an interception,
but Holtz still thinks that the defense
needs work.
“On third downs, we had far too many
missed assignments and allowed the quar
terback to break containment,” he said.
As Holtz hinted at earlier in the week,
there were changes in the USC defensive
lineup. Thompson, a freshman, started at
defensive end. Defensive end George
Gause was moved to linebacker, lineback
er Jermaine Lemon was moved to spur,
and spur Rashad Faison started at strong
safety. Wide receiver Andrea Gause start
ed at comerback.
But even with the defensive struggles,
turnovers were USC’s ultimate demise.
Three of USC’s six fumbles resulted in
touchdowns.
Cavaliers quarterback Matt Schaub
went 20-for-30 for 170 yards and two touch
downs. Receiver Billy McMullen caught
four passes for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Virginia head coach A1 Groh was com
plimentary about his offense’s play.
“We got some good plays from a lot of
players,” he said. “Billy McMullen was
magnificent. He probably had two of the
best catches that anybody has ever had in
the state of Virginia tonight. He’s a great
competitor. Schaub ran the game very
well.”
Groh was excited about the win and
what it means for his young program.
PHOTO BY AARON HARK/THE GAMECOCK
The Gamecock defense scrambles for the ball after defensive tackle Langston Moore (No. 57) fumbled an
Interception in the second half of USC’s 34-21 loss to Virginia. The Gamecocks fumbled seven times during the
game, six of which were recovered by the Cavaliers.
GAME 2
0 21
X Vi$f 34
THE QUOTE
“I just hope the guys
still have faith in me to
be their quarterback.”
COREY JENKINS
USC QUARTERBACK
When USC QB Corey Jenkins
fumbled on the Virginia 5-yard line
with 6:17 remaining, the '*
Gamecocks lost their last chance
at a comeback. A score would
have put USC within six points, but
instead, Virginia was able to run
out most of the clock.
7
Number of turnovers for USC, off
six fumbles and one interception.
The Gamecocks only had 15
turnovers in all of last season,*
seven of which were fumbles.
“The game had absolutely everything;
it was pretty wild,” he said. “It is a big step
forward for our team. They can be very
proud of what we accomplished.”
Virginia has a bye next week, but the
Gamecocks will get a chance to quickly
make up for their poor showing Saturday
night. USC, which dropped out of both
polls with the loss, plays host to Georgia,
ranked No. 9 by the Associated Press, next
Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
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Volleyball team victorious
in annual Carolina Classic
BY ROBIN NURRE
THE GAMECOCK
Carolina once again proved its superiori
ty on the volleyball court, going undefeated
this weekend and dominating an elite field
of teams in the Carolina Classic.1
USC (5-1) defeated Arizona State,
Creighton and 13th-ranked Pacific, sweep
ing the latter two to lay claim to the title.
“We really came together as a team,”
sophomore Niece Curry said. “We’ve made
our presence known. Beating the schools we
beat, we’ll get recognized.”
Friday night, USC met Arizona State and
went toe-to-toe with them before finally as
serting their dominance and downing the
Sun Devils in four games—33-31,31-33,30-26
and 30-25.
Senior Cally Plummer led the team in
kills with 18, while three other Gamecocks
had double-digit kills as well.
In their second match of the Classic, USC
put Creighton away quickly, sweeping them
30-16,30-18 and 30-17.
Curry led with 10 kills and a .563 hitting
percentage. Senior Megan Hosp added 31 as
sists and tied Plummer’s school record of
service aces in a game (8).
In the tournament’s final game,
Carolina came up against Pacific and
showed their experience and talent, de
feating the Tigers in three games — 30-21,
30-19 and 30-24.
USC came out strong, controlling Pacific
in the first two games of the match. In the
third game, the Tigers dug in but came up
short, and the enthusiastic Carolina fans
helped carry the team to victory.
Plummer led the team with 12 kills
against Pacific, while senior Berna Dwyer
was right behind her with 11 kills and a .526
hitting percentage. Curry also came up big
again, providing 10 kills, many of them at
key moments in the match.
“Offensively, we put up big numbers,”
USC head coach Kim Christopher said.
“Niece and Berna both hit over .500.”
Hosp dished out 38 assists on her way to
being named the tournament’s most valu
PHOTO BY SARAH WALKER/THE GAMECOCK
The USC volleyball team won three matches this weekend and won the Carolina
Classic. Next up for the Gamecocks will be Clemson at home on Tuesday night.
able player. Being named with Hosp on the
All-Tournament Team were Curry and se
nior Sam Alban.
“Niece Curry had a great tournament, and
enough can’t be said about setter Megan
Hosp’s play,” Christopher said. “Sam came
up with some huge blocking for us, which
was vital during the tournament.”
USC now hopes to take the momentum it
gained this weekend into Tuesday night,
when Clemson comes to Columbia for the
annual rivalry match.
“This is the game,” Curry said. “It’s time
to get the (in-state) title again. We have won
the last two years. ”
Clemson will bring a lot of experience,
however. The Tigers return 10 lettermen and
four starters, including their lone senior,
setter Jessi Betcher, who was the ACC’s
Rookie of the Year in 1999.
Christopher feels her team is ready for
the challenge and knows her team will be
ready if it can stay relaxed and keep the en
ergy up.
“With Clemson/Carolina, you just throw
the ball out and see what happens,”
Christopher said.
The Clemson match will be played at 7
p.m. at the Volleyball Competition Facility.
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BRIEFLY
Men’s soccer wins
Duke tournament
The USC men’s soccer team,
ranked No. 10 in the nation, re
mains undefeated after toppling
Duke 3-0 on Sunday to win the
Duke/Adidas Classic in
Durham, N.C.
Duke was able to outshoot
Carolina 11-6, but the Gamecocks
(4-0) were able to capitalize on
their opportunities.
Anthony Stovall came off the
bench in the first half to score
Carolina’s first goal at the 35:22
mark, and Jordan Quinn
notched another goal less than
two minutes later to give the
Gamecocks a 2-0 halftime advan
tage.
Freshman Josh Alcala then
scored his first goal of his career
to give Carolina the 3-0 lead.
Quinn was named the tourna
ment’s most valuable player. He
also scored the game-winning
goal in Friday’s 2-1 win over
North Carolina State.
Making the all-tournament
team along with Quinn were
goalkeeper Michael Bachmeyer,
midfielder Jack Cummings and
defender Jordan Smith.
Women’s soccer
improves to 3-1
Senior Melinda Carter scored
twice in the second half, and ju
nior midfielder Melissa Hutson
added a goal and an assist as the
USC women’s soccer team de
feated East Carolina 4-1 on
Sunday afternoon in the Puma
Classic.
Carolina improved to 3-1 with
the win. The Gamecocks lost
their first match of the season
Friday, 2-0 to Charlotte, the host
team of the tournament.
“We dominated on the offen
sive side for a majority of the
game, and we are happy to come
away with a win,” USC head
coach Shelley Smith said after
the win over ECU. “We still need
to learn to compete for °0 min
utes and not have any letdowns.
' “Melinda stepped up and came
through for us in the second half
and really was a leader out on the
field. Our team is learning, and we
need to continue to step it up.”
Carolina outshot the Pirates 18
4 and didn’t allow a shot until the
early part of the second half.
USC scored its first goal of the
match early in the first period at
13:15. Senior Morgan McIntyre
took a pass near the top of the box
from freshman midfielder Stacy
Bunchman and beat ECU goalie
Lauren Church with a goal to the
right comer.
East Carolina scored its lone
goal in the 59th minute to tie the
match.
USC came right back on the of
fensive, scoring in less then five
minutes. Junior midfielder Erica
Bowie served a ball into the box
that was tipped by Jess Julin and
headed into the goal by Carter to
TY11+ TTQP am
USC finishes second
in cross country meet
In Saturday’s Charlotte Relay
Invitational, the USC cross coun
try team was edged out of first
place by the host team.
The Charlotte 49ers’ score of 10
points was enough to defeat the
Gamecocks, who were right be
hind with 11 points. Queens
College finished in third with 24
points.
The Gamecocks’ team of Jenny
Lake and Lauren Paige finished in
second place overall with a time
of 22 minutes, 26.4 seconds. The
j 6,000-meter relay race was ran in
teams of two, with each person
running 3,000 meters.
Charlotte’s Jen Taylor and
j Cassie Ficken placed first with a
time of 22:03.1.
The Gamecocks had four
teams finish in the top 10, in
cluding Shay Shelton/Kinsey
Eschenburg (fourth place) and
Katie Harbert/Mary Utsey (fifth
place).