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p 7 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, September 30, 2002 GAME SCHEDULE " ■ "V / \ | ' ’V r | WOMEN’S GOLF at Lady Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C., EONTAflT T'TS I_J rn I I j I ^ WOMEN’S TENNIS in Lady Gamecock Classic, Friday-Sunday UU1MAU1 ' I I I I \ I . V WOMEN’S SOCCER at Kentucky, 7:30 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I \ I L 1 VOLLEYBALL at Arkansas, 8 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com .M _JL_ FOOTBALL vs. Mississippi State, 1 p.m. Saturday A HISTORIC VICTORY PHOTO BY AARON HARK/THE GAMECOCK Erica Bowie, right, of the USC women’s soccer team, guards the ball from Florida defender Ashley Kellgren during Sunday’s match at the Graveyard. On the far left is Ashley Williams, who scored the game-winner for Carolina in overtime. ‘ Carolina beats Gators in OT Honda n (3-6-1, 0-1 SEC) St usc i (8-2,1-0) BY NICK YOUNG THE UAMECOCK At the beginning of the 2002 season, there were only three SEC teams that the USC wom * en’s soccer team had yet to de feat in its history. After this weekend, that list is down to two. In overtime Sunday at the Graveyard, USC sophomore Ashley Williams scored a goal at the 100:07 mark, and the Gameco cks defeated the Williams Florida Gators for the first time ever. Senior Melinda Carter assisted on Williams’ goal, her fifth of the season. “I feel awesome,” Williams said. “I've never felt this good be fore in my life. I didn’t even look; I just turned and shot.” After two earlier losses this season to ranked opponents, USC was determined to finally beat a top-25 team. Things didn’t look so good for Carolina during the early stages of the match, though. During the first half, Florida (3-6 1,0-1 SEC) dominated and showed why it has won the SEC champi onship in five of the past six years. They recorded 11 shots, including seven on goal, while the Gamecocks had zero shots. USC looked anxious and impa tient on offense but played hard • defense and frustrated the Gators by not letting them into the net. This gave the defense a men tal boost and fueled Carolina (8-2, 1-0) to the shutout. “The defense just set out there and was confident,” goalkeeper Elise Matthews said. “We’d been shutting them down the whole game, and we decided to get a shutout.” After halftime, the Gamecocks came out and looked like a new team. They had a dif ferent strategy and appeared to be more confident. “We came out in the first half and held them, so we knew we could play with these guys, and we knew we could put pressure on them,” USC head coach Shelley Smith said. “In the sec ond half, I think we needed to step up our work level, and we did. We stepped up our pressure a little bit and just battled.” After 10 minutes in the second half, Carolina stepped up its play and gave themselves the advan tage for the remainder of the game. Changing their defensive game plan from the first half, USC decided to take some chances and attack. The roles were then reversed, as the Gators were the ones des perately trying to stop the offen sive onslaught. Florida was ob viously frustrated, committing 10 fouls in the second half to the Gamecocks’ two. As the half winded down, both “It’s great to get our first SEC win against a team that we’re expected to lose to.” SHELLEY SMITH use WOMEN'S SOCCER HEAD COACH teams sent last-minute attacks at each other’s goals only to be thwarted by the other’s stiff de fensive play. That led to over time and Williams’ game-win ning goal. “We’re all pretty excited; they’ve had such a good reign of the SEC in the past years,” Smith said. “They’re going to come back and be one of the top SEC teams again. It’s great to get our first SEC win against a team that we’re expected to lose to.” The Gamecocks will be on a two-game road trip this weekend against Kentucky and Vanderbilt, and then they return home to play Arkansas on Oct. 11 at the Graveyard. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com r* Gamecocks break even in SEC play Football holds off Vanderbilt BY KYLE ALMOND THE GAMECOCK The USC football team won its first conference game of the sea son Saturday with a 20-14 victory at Vanderbilt. Quarterback Corey Jenkins passed for 180 yards and rushed for 97 yards to lead the Gamecocks (3-2, l-l SEC) to their second win in aj-ow. “I thought that our players com peted very well,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. “I compliment Vanderbilt; I thought they played well.” The Gamecocks came into the game heavily favored; the Commodores (1-4, 0-3) had lost their last 11 SEC games. But Vandy kept things close — almost a little too close for Holtz. “It was a game that went back and forth,” Holtz said. “Vanderbilt did not make a mistake until the end.” Carolina was down 14-10 in the third quarter before Jenkins’ 12 yard touchdown run put the Gamecocks up by three. The touchdown capped an 11-play, 75 yard drive in which Jenkins went 5-for-5 passing for 42 yards. The Gamecocks added a late field goal by Dan Weaver, but Vanderbilt had the ball with a chance to win. Down 20-14, the Commodores had possession with 1:41 remaining. Jonathan Martin ended any threat of a Vanderbilt comeback, however, with an interception off Jay Cutler. “It’s the same story — another close game that we didn’t win,” Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson said. “I thought our guys played hard and well most of the game. I think some of (USC’s) good athletes made some good plays that allowed them to win the foot ball game.” Holtz wasn’t overly impressed with his team’s play, especially the team’s red zone.efficiency. But he acknowledged the importance of the victory. “Any time you get a win in the SEC, you have to be happy,” Holtz said. USC struggled offensively for most of the first half and trailed 7 3 before Dondrial Pinkins com pleted a 23-yard touchdown pass to Troy Williamson right before halftime. The touchdown was William son’s second in as many weeks. The freshman from Aiken had four grabs for 75 yards. Senior Michael Ages also had a GAME 5 use 20 (3-2,1-1 SEC) m Vanderbilt 14 '"TJ® (1-4,0-3) THE GAMECOCK’S GAME BALL QB Corey Jenkins Jenkins again led the Gamecocks in both rushing (97 yards) and passing (180 yards). He played under control and allowed USC to establish the tempo of the game with its ball-control offense. THE QUOTE _J “Any time you get a win in the SEC, you have to be happy.” LOU HOLTZ USC HEAD COACH Only up 17-14 in the fourth quarter, and facing third-and-16 from Vanderbilt territory, Jenkins evaded defenders and found Michael Ages for a 29-yard gain. The drive led to a field goal that gave USC a little more cushion. The Jenkins-to-Ages completion was the first time all season that Carolina converted a third down from more than 10 yards. THE STAT 34*7 USC possessed the ball for almost 10 more minutes than the Commodores. The Gamecocks wore down Vandy late in the game with their rushing attack. strong game receiving. He had a team-high five catches for 71 yards. “We moved the ball pretty well,” Holtz said. “We just didn't score when we had opportunities.” Fullback Andrew Pinnock had a successful return after not getting a carry in last week’s Temple game. He rushed for 69 yards on 17 carries. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com 'Volleyball continues to dominate at home Carolina sweeps Alabama teams BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK ■ The confines of the Volleyball Competition Facility proved un friendly to Auburn and Alabama this weekend, as the Gamecocks swept both teams to keep its home record perfect at 8-0. USC head coach Kim w, Christopher remarked on the im portance of having the home crowd on your side. “The home crowd is awesome,” she said after Sunday’s win over Alabama. “It’s great to be com fortable here. Most people have other options (to do on a Sunday), but it’s really nice to be in front °f your home people.” Friday night, Carolina finished °fF the weak-hitting Tigers 30-12, 30-16 and 30-15. Auburn never had „ a chance, getting continuously out hit by the Gamecocks. T he Tigers even had a negative hitting per centage in the final game. Niece Curry stepped up for USC with a match-high 13 kills and an overall hitting percentage of .478. Senior Berna Dwyer con tributed nine kills, while team mate Megan Hosp tallied six ser vice aces. Carolina hit .750 as it opened a 7-0 lead to begin the second game. Then it went on a 13-3 run to ex pand the margin. “Our first contact in the second game was really good,” Christopher said. “We were pass ing pretty well, and that allowed Megan to run a faster offense. I think the numbers indicated that.” Errors doomed the Tigers (1-12, 0-1 SEC) — they had a total of 40 on the night. The Gamecocks had a difficult time sending the Crimson Tide (10-6,1-1) home on Sunday, yet USC prevailed in a tight match, with game scores of 30-17,30-27 and 30-27. Christopher thought it was a little too close for comfort, though. “I thought, offensively, we got a little slower and got into a slump,” she said. “We got into a slower pattern than what we got into in game one. I think that con tributed to the score being a little closer. (Alabama) hit .333 in game two and, statistically, should have won that game.” But the Gamecocks managed to win the match. “We went into the locker room and sat down and got our focus back up,” said Curry, who had another big game, with 12 kills and a .421 hitting percentage. Alabama “wanted to come back and fight a little harder (in game three), but we weren’t going to let it happen.” Christopher, after this week end’s performance, likes what she is seeing from Curry. “She’s really coming on now,” Christopher said. “She’s coming into her own, and it’s good to see her and Megan really connect ing.” Hosp, the senior setter, dished out 36 assists against the Tide, in PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK USC senior Sam Alban follows through on a spike against Auburn on Friday. The Gamecocks won the match 3-0. eluding the 4,000th of her career. “I really don’t know what to say about it,” Hosp said of her achievement. “We’ve come a long way. From all of us being fresh men coming up and plaving to gether as seniors — basically, it means we’ve matured, and it means a lot for the team.” Carolina (10-3,3-0) will go on the road for their next three matches before returning Oct. 13 to play Tennessee. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com BRIEFLY Carolina runner wins second race in a row For the second straight week, USC cross country runner Jenny Lake took the individual title while setting a course record. Lake’s time of 18 minutes, 55 sec onds in the 5-kilometer race shat tered the old course record by 15 seconds at The Citadel Invitational in Charleston. Carolina, as a team, continued to improve; the Gamecocks’ 61 points was enough to gamer them second place. Furman won the in vitational with a score of 28. Men’s soccer loses first game of season USC men’s soccer team, ranked third in the nation by the NSCAA, fell to Davidson 1-0 on Sunday. Joel Sadler scored in the 59th minute for the Wildcats, who im prove to 5-2-1. The defeat is the first of the sea son for USC, which drops to 7-1-1. ♦ FOR MORE USC RESULTS, INCLUDING THOSE FROM THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS TEAMS, VISIT OUR WEB SITE, WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM.