The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 13, 2002, Page 7, Image 7
7 „ GAME'SCHEDULE
MEN’S SOCCER vs. New Hampshire, 7:30 p.m. Friday
AA1Tm A VOLLEYBALL vs. San Diego in Long Beach, Calif., 7 p.m. Friday
(jQjNJ TACT L S WOMEN'S SOCCER vs. College of Charleston, 12 p.m. Saturday
FOOTBALL vs. No. 9 Georgia, 3:30 p.m. Saturday
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E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com v Saturday-Sunday
Revenge on Georgia’s mind
Carolina has won last
two meetings with UGA
No. 9 Georgia at USC
3:30 p.m. Saturday
Williams-Brice Stadium
TV: CBS
BY BRAD SENKIW
THE GAMECOCK
After a tough loss at Virginia,
the USC football team is hoping to
bounce back this weekend against
the Georgia Bulldogs.
Georgia, ranked 9th by the
Associated Press and 10th by the
coaches, is looking for revenge as
it enters Williams-Brice Stadium
on Saturday after losing to the
Gamecocks the past two seasons.
Carolina has never beaten the
Bulldogs three times in a row, and
head coach Lou Holtz knows the
extent of the challenge ahead.
“Looking at the University of
Georgia, this is the last thing I
want to do: to go into the Georgia
game with that type of perfor
mance,” Holtz said, referring to
USC’s poor game at Virginia.
“This could be embarrassing on
Saturday.”
The Bulldogs lead the overall
series between the two teams 39
12-2, and they have won six of the
last 10 meetings.
Georgia is coming off a 31-28
win over Clemson in Athens two
weeks ago, when kicker Billy
♦ WHO HAS THE EDGE? GO TO
WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM TO
SEE WHICH TEAM HAS THE UPPER
HAND FOR SATURDAY’S GAME.
Bennett nailed a 43-yard field goal
with 5:19 left in the game. Georgia
had a bye last week and looks
healthy and ready coming into
Saturday’s game.
“We had the open date, which
was helpful,” Georgia head coach
Mark Richt said. “The majority of
the team is healthy.
“We have a lot to prove this
week. The fact that we haven’t
beat South Carolina in a while is
motivation.”
Georgia’s offense is led by two
quarterbacks this year — sopho
more David Greene and redshirt
freshman D.J. Shockley. The two
combined for 117 passing yards
and three touchdowns against
Clemson.
Musa Smith, who racked up 105
yards against Clemson, will be the
Bulldogs’ featured rusher.
“Musa Smith is a great run
ner,” Holtz said. “He has very
quick feet, and he is powerful.”
Georgia’s most explosive
weapons come at receiver, howev
er, with a pair of Biletnikoff Award
candidates in Terrence Edwards
and Fred Gibson. Edwards caught
a 24-yard touchdown against the
Tigers, while Gibson did his dam
age with a 91-yard kickoff return
for a touchdown.
“Georgia’s receiving corps is
the best in the country,” Holtz
said. “Gibson did not play against
us last year. He is outstanding.
Edwards is a career-leading re
ceiver there. Then you put in
(Damien) Gary — he’s the fastest
guy on the team, and that’s hard
to believe with Gibson and
Edwards.”
The Bulldogs also boast one of
the top offensive lines in the coun
try, with All-American Kevin
Breedlove leading the way.
Holtz is also weary of the strong
and improved Georgia defense
that could cause serious problems
for the USC offense.
“Defensively, I think they are
better then last year, at least when
we played them,” Holtz said.
“They are much more aggressive.
They have two great linebackers.
The defensive line is very big,
strong, aggressive, and their sec
ondary is physical and quick.
(Linebacker) Boss Bailey is an All
American.”
Despite the win over Clemson,
Richt was not pleased with his
team’s performance two weeks
ago.
“I really believe that South
Carolina and Georgia are about in
the same boat as far as not playing
as well as we would like to early
in the year, needing to get some
things corrected, trying to find out
what kind of a football team we
have,” Richt said. “We’ve got a lot
to prove, and I think South
Carolina feels like they have a lot
to prove, too. It’s going to be a
game of two teams that are really
trying to find out their identity.”
The Bulldogs and the
Gamecocks are scheduled for a
3:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will be
nationally televised on CBS.
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PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK
Rashad Faison (No. 11) played free safety last week, but he will be back at spur for Saturday's game with Georgia. Faison and the
defense have a tough test against the Bulldogs’ receiving corps, which USC head coach Lou Holtz calls the best in the country.
gftf Clemson *
Mr 0-2)
USC o
(3-2)
BY NICK YOUNG
THE GAMECOCK
The USC women’s soccer team
lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to No. 18
Clemson on Wednesday night in
front of a record crowd of 1,863
fans at The Graveyard.
Tigers midfielder Heather
Beem scored in the 87th minute
ofiF a deflection that dropped right
in front of her.
“It’s unlucky,” USC head
coach Shelley Smith said. “It was
a deflection, and Elise
(Matthews) got down, but not as
Quickly as she would’ve liked.
Then it just dribbled under her.”
The loss for Carolina (3-2) was
its sixth in a row to Clemson (3-2)
and its seventh loss to the Tigers
in the last eight years.
“It hurts, it really does,” se
nior Morgan McIntyre said.
“Everyone played so hard, and
we lost because of one lucky
play. But we can’t think about it
for too long. We have to get ready
for our next game.”
USC, looking to offset Clem
son’s tremendous speed and po
tent offense, came
into Wednesday
night’s game with
a defensive strat
egy.
“We wanted to
cover each other
and stay orga
nized, Matthews
Matthews said. “We execut
ed our plan, but
they had that one little bounce
that went their way.”
The Gamecocks’ plan seemed
to work, as they shut down
Clemson’s offense for a large por
tion of the first half. The Tigers
had one quality chance, around
the 20-minute mark when for
ward Deliah Arrington’s shot hit
the near post, but Clemson’s oth
er early shots on goal were easy
saves for Matthews.
While USC’s defense was sue
cessful in implementing its game
plan, its offense struggled to cre
ate quality scoring chances.
Attacking midfielder Jessica
Julin was one of the Gamecocks
concerned about lack of posses
sion.
“It was frustrating to have the
ball and then watch someone
kick it away,” Julin said.
McIntyre played most of the
second half as the only forward
and didn’t have much help.
“I wasn’t frustrated,” she said.
“The coaches asked me to do it,
and I had no problem with it. It’s
what the team needed to do to
win. As long as that’s the case.”
But it wasn’t the case for
Carolina, as Beem took full ad
vantage of her opportunity and
put the Tigers up with little time
remaining.
Beem’s goal took the life out
of the crowd, but it didn’t take
the life out of the Gamecocks.
With a mere two minutes left,
USC made three late charges and
had two shots on goal.
“The team never quit,” Smith
said. “I’m extremely proud of !
them. That last-minute charge
was incredible; they wanted to
win. Everyone should be proud '
of themselves.”
Smith said she was especially
encouraged by Matthews’ play. ]
“Elise Matthews played ter- |
rific in goal for us tonight,”
Smith said. “She proved that ;
she’s one of the best.” ;
Smith is hoping her team can
learn from this setback. I
“We proved that we can play |
with any team in the nation,” she j
said. “But they have to learn that
that’s what we’re expecting from '
them every game.”
The Gamecocks will resume |
play this Saturday against the \
College of Charleston. The match |
starts at noon and will be played |
at The Graveyard.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com '
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
USC’s Kanika MeAlpine (No. 24) fights off Clemson’s Lindsay
Browne during Wednesday night’s game at The Graveyard. r
Clemson won 1-0 when Heather Beem scored in the 87th
minute. The Tigers have now defeated USC six times in a row.
USC riding high after tourney win
BY KYLE ALMOND
THE GAMECOCK
Following what head coach
Mark Berson called a “sloppy” 2-1
win over Jacksonville, there were
a lot of questions about the USC
men’s soccer team a week ago.
But the Gamecocks had some
answers this past weekend when
they beat North Carolina State and
Duke to win the Duke/Adidas
Classic.
“It was definitely a very good
performance by our team,”
Berson said. “We have a pretty
young group, so that was a chal
lenge to see how their focus would
be on the road.”
USC (4-0) defeated the Wolfpack
2- 1 and finished off the Blue Devils
3- 0 to take the tournament crown.
With the impressive performance,
the Gamecocks were moved to No.
6 in the NSCAA poll.
Leading the way for Carolina
was forward Jordan Quinn, who
scored the game-winner against
N.C. State and was named the tour
nament’s most valuable player.
“We played really awesome,”
said Quinn, who was also named
to Soccer America magazine’s
Team of the Week. “I thought the
guys pulled together.
“We didn’t play as good as we
thought we could against
Jacksonville, so we didn’t know
where we stood. But I thought we
stepped up and played really well
this weekend.”
The confident Gamecocks will
look to build on their momentum
Friday when their annual home
tournament, the Gamecock Soccer
Classic, kicks off at The Graveyard.
USC welcomes the College of
Charleston, New Hampshire and
Washington for the event.
The Gamecocks have held the
Classic since 1987, and they’ve
won it 11 times. But since winning
seven straight Classics from 1993
99, Carolina has slipped up and
lost its last two. Charleston won
in 2000, and Maryland won a year
ago.
Quinn says the team is hungry
to reclaim its own tournament.
“We’ve got to win this,” he said.
“We really want to win. There’s
going to be two tough tests, but I
think, for the most part, we’re
ready.”
Carolina’s tests will be New
Hampshire on Friday night and
Washington on Sunday.
New Hampshire is undefeated
at 4-0, and Washington (1-0-2) has
been to the NCAA Tournament
The Gamecock
Soccer Classic
All matches to be played
at The Graveyard
Friday: Washington vs.
College of Charleston, 5 p.m.;
No. 6 USC vs. New
Hampshire, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: New Hampshire vs.
Charleston, 11 a.m.; USC vs.
Washington, 1:30 p.m.
the past seven seasons.
TheXlassic begins Friday at 5
p.m., when Washington takes on
Charleston (2-1-1). After that
game, USC will face New
Hampshire at 7:30 p.m.
Play wraps up Sunday with
New Hampshire facing
Charleston at 11 a.m. and USC
playing Washington at 1:30 p.m.
“Our players always point to
this weekend,” Berson said. “It’s a
big weekend for us as far as a lot of
families coming in, and we always
want to do well in our home tour
naments. It’s a major focus for us.”
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SPORTS CHALLENGE
HE CHALLENGE: Kyle Matt
he Gamecock’s readers and Almond Rothenberj
taff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sport:
irith predictions of the Editor Editor
i/eekend’s games. (Rankings (12~8) (12-8)
ire from the Associated Press.)
Chris Mary Justin Edward
[ Foy Hartney Bajan Barnes
; Defending Editor in Co-Editor, Reader of
Champion Chief The Mix the Week
(11-9) (13-7) (6-14) (12-8)
ndiana at Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky
/liami (Ohio) at 25 LSU LSULSU
/lississippi at Texas TechOle Miss Texas Tech
[Q Wash. St. at 6 Ohio St. Ohio St. Ohio St.
' Michigan at 20 Notre Dame Michigan Michigan
.7 Southern Cal at 18 Colorado So. Cal So. Cal
)uke at Northwestern Duke N’westem
owa St. at Iowa Iowa St._Iowa St.
Georgia Tech at Clemson Ga. Tech_Clemson
I Georgia at USC Georgia Georgia
27-23 31-27
Kentucky Indiana Kentucky Kentucky
LSU Miami (OH) LSU LSU
Ole Miss Ole Miss Texas Tech Ole Miss
Ohio St. Wash. St. OhioSt. Ohio St.
Michigan N. Dame Michigan N. Dame
Jo. Cal_So. Cal _Colorado Colorado
N'western N’westem N'western Duke
Iowa St. Iowa Iowa Iowa St.
Ga. Tech Clemson Ga. Tech Ga. Tgch
USC Georgia USC USC
27-24 35-21 35-31 ' 25-24
AST WEEK’S WINNER: Matt Rothenberg (6-4) - Rothenberg edged out Gerald Smith, our reader of the week, via the
iebreaker. Rothenberg was the only one to predict that Virginia would upset USC in Charlottesville. He did not,
lowever, predict seven Carolina turnovers.
lartney, who along with Foy and Almond went 5-5, holds on to a slim overall lead. Assistant Viewpoints Editor Erin
)’Neal, the Gamecock staff member of the week, buried her co-workers’ chances with a humiliating 1-9 week.
VANTTO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mailyourselectionsnextweektogamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you have
he best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want