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GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US MEN’S SOCCER vs. Boston University, 7 p.m. WOMEN’S SOCCER at Clemson, 7 p.m. Story ideas? Questions? Comments? CROss COUNTRY at Charlotte, 9 a.m. Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksportstahotmail. com FOOTBALL vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 7 p.m. Saturday , * * * Carolina ready for Ragin’ Cajuns PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Dunta Robinson will match up with Louisiana-Lafayette wide receiver Fred Stamps Saturday at Wllliams-Brice Stadium. I I Louisiana-Lafayette at USC 7:00 p.m. Saturday Williams-Brice Stadium BY MICHAEL MACEWEN THE HAMECQCK The USC football team will take on Louisiana-Lafayette in the 2003 season opener Saturday. As a member of the little known Sun Belt conference, the Cajuns might not be a marquee opponent, but they could still manage to trouble the Gamecocks. Leading the attack for the Louisiana-Lafayette offense is Jerry Babb, a freshman quarter back; this Saturday will be his first start as a college quarter back. “I’m nervous about this being his first game,” Louisiana Lafayette head coach Ricky Bustle said. “He’s a redshirt fresh man and he’s about to walk into one of the top college atmospheres in the country. It’s a tough chore to come into Williams-Brice and perform.” Despite his worries, Bustle brings a long list of experience to the table. Louisiana-Lafayette has a tough special-teams game, ranked in the top three in the country in blocked kicks and punts last year. The Ragin’ Cajuns also have a well-balanced.offense. Besides Babb, the youngest member of the Louisiana-Lafayette offense is a ju nior. The Cajuns will no doubt take to the air, with a talented duo of senior wide receivers, includ ing Ricky Stamps, the play maker. “He's definitely our go-to guy,” Bustle said. “He can go toe to toe with anyone in the country.” Saturday should prove an inter esting match up be tween standout Gamecock corner back Dunta Robinson and Stamps. The USC linebackers have been riddled with injuries through Robinson 0ut Spring an(j summer practice and still aren’t at 100 percent. At his weekly press conference Monday, head coach Lou Holtz expressed his worry for the first game, particu larly about defending the Cajuns. “It is always scary in an open ing ballgame,” Holtz said. “There are more upsets that occur on the opening week of the season than perhaps any other time.” Luckily, the Gamecocks have an expefi enced offense that Holtz is fairly con- Holtz fident in. Although Holtz has expressed worry concerning this game, and though the Cajuns bring a talented squad up to Columbia, there are a few things that nervous USC fans should remember. In 45 SEC games, Louisiana-Lafayette hasn’t had a single win and this is the first time that the two teams will meet. Also, Louisiana-Lafayette didn’t win a single game on the road last year. On Wednesday, the athletic de partment suspended senior wide receiver Chavez Donnings and placekicker Daniel Weaver. Donnings is serving a suspension that was supposed to be carried out in 2001 for receiving tutoring from USC before he was enrolled. “There are more upsets that occur on the opening week of the season than perhaps any other time.” LOU HOLTZ use HEAD FOOTBALL COACH Weaver is ineligible to play this week because of questions sur-’ rounding his academic eligibility from last season. Assistant coach Skip Holtz said Mikal Goodman will replace Donnings. Lou Holtz said Josh Brown would assume the kicking duties. “With this situation, (Goodman) was the best one to put out there that I think can play, that has experience under his belt,” Holtz said. “I think what we have to do and our jobs as coaches is to try to move this thing around and get it put to gether. We’ve got to play with what we have.” The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kick-off and will be televised on pay-per-view across the state. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com USC to face nation’s best in tournament BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK The USC volleyball team gets its 2003 season started tonight against Ball State in the Holiday Inn of the Greater Los Angeles Area Volleyball Tournament, hosted by the other USC, the University of Southern California. The tournament in cludes No. 1 Southern Cal, No. 8 Northern Iowa, Ball State and CUSC. Carolina is ranked 40th in the nation going into, the tourna ment. USC head coach Kim Christopher isn’t intimidated go • Christopher ing into a tourna ment with two Top-10 opponents. “I think being able to play the best — that’s where you are try ing to go,” Christopher said. “It will be a great experience. * Playing hard and playing our best is perfect. There is not a W before the whistle is even blown, and a lot of times you set yourself up for that before the game is even played. You can’t be an un derdog or beat a No. 1 team if you never play them.” Carolina has some advantages going into the season. Redshirt junior middle blocker Niece Curry was named first-team All •SEC last year and led the team in hitting with a .404 average. She also led the team in blocks with 114 and was seventh in the na tion in hitting. In reference to how the team should play against such highly ranked foes, Christopher offered her prescription. “We have to get better with our first contact,” she said. “Our passing game and our ball con trol is where we’re weak right now. As soon as that gets better, we’ll be very good.” Southern Cal looks the best going into the tournament as de fending national champions. Southern Cal only suffered one loss last year, when the Women of Troy lost to Stanford. Stanford finished last season second in the nation. The Trojans have already started their season with a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii. At the NACWAA State Farm Classic, Southern Cal beat both Florida nand Hawaii by a score of 3-0. Hawaii was pre season No. 2 and Florida was pre season No. 3. Northern Iowa enters this tour nament playing a Curry No. 1 team for the second straight year. Northern Iowa lost to 2002 preseason No. 1 Stanford at last year’s NACWAA State Farm Classic, but the Panthers finished last season at No. 9 with a 34-3 record. The team also won its fifth straight Missouri Valley Conference Championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament Sweet 16. UNI has split four matches in previous play with Ball State but Southern Cal Tournament USC vs. Ball State Fri. 8 p.m. USC vs. No. 8 Northern Iowa Sat. 2 p.m. USC vs. No. 1 Southern Cal Sat. 8 p.m. has never played Southern Cal or USC. Ball State enters the tourna ment unranked, but returns a squad that won the Mid American Conference last year. Ball State also started off last season losing to then-No. 3 Southern Cal in the Radison Hotel Roberts/Nike Classic at Ball State. Ball State and Carolina only met up once before, with the Gamecocks taking the match 3-0 in 1986. With all these strong oppo nents, Christopher is only con cerned with what her team can do. “I don’t want them to sit down and think about who they’re play ing,” Christopher said. “I just want them to play.” Carolina begins the tourna ment at 8 tonight against Ball State. The Gamecocks turn around and play twice on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. against Northern Iowa and Southern Cal at 8 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com SPORTS CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Brad Wes Charles Adam Justin Miquel The Gamecock’s readers and Senklw Wolfe Tomlinson Beam Bajan Jacobs staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Managing Page Reader of with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Designer the Week weekend’s games. (Rankings (0-0) (0-0) (0-0) (0-0) (0-0) (0-0) are from The Associated Press.) H Georgia at Clemson __Georgia_Georgia Georgia Georgia Georgia Georgia 21 Southern Cal, at 6 Auburn Auburn So. Cat_So. Cal. Auburn Auburn_Auburn_ 17 Washington at 2 Ohio State Ohio St. Ohio St. Ohio St. Ohio St._Ohio St. Wash. 23 Colorado St. at Colorado Colorado Col. St. _ Col. St. Colorado Colorado Col. St ; Fresno St. at 12 Tennessee Tenn. Tenn. Tenn. Tenn._Tenn. Jenn. Louisville at Kentucky Kentucky Louisville Kentucky Louisville Kentucky Kentucky M Oregon at MississippkSt _Oregon Miss. St. Oregon Oregon Oregon Oregon 24 Oklahoma St. at Nebraska Okla. St Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska Qkla. St. 121 Wisconsin at West Virginia W. Va._Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin ! Louisiana-Lafayette at USC USC ‘ USC jhj*. USC USC USC USC 27-10 35-24 “ftil 31-14 31-10 28-14 35-7 SPORTS CHALLENGE’S FIRST-WEEK OUTLOOK: With former Sports Editor Matt Rothenbergoutofthe picture, new Sports Editor Brad Senkiw, last semester's assistant, looks to capitalize and build off his NCM Basketball Pool Championship this season. Newcomer Wes Wolfe hopes to challenge Senkiw and take the crown. Editor in Chief Charles Tomlinson is looking for a fast start as well. The Reader of the Week, Miquel Jacobs, wants to be the firstto win a Gamecock T-shirt WANT TO BE READER OFTHE WEEK? E-mail your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If vou’re picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to tai(r all the trash you want y , y v Men’s soccer team set to play season opener against Terriers BY JOEL WALLACE THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s soccer team opens the regular season at home Friday as the Gamecocks face an unfamiliar opponent in the Boston Terriers. “We don’t really know that much about Boston,” said USC head coach Mark Berson, who is in his 26th season at the helm. “What we know about BU is not very good in terms of the specifics of how they play, so the first part of that game is going to be real important as both teams feel each other out. We want to learn more about ourselves than BU.” Coach Berson and the Gamecocks do know they will be facing an experienced team when they kick off at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium. The Terriers return nine starters and 19 letter-winners from the 2002 squad that finished with an 8-6-3 overall record. “Year in and year out, BU is one of those teams that’s always in NCAA (tournament) considera tion every year,” Berson said. “That’s one of the reasons we wanted to schedule them. They’re very good in terms of being orga nized and not making a lot of mistakes.” Friday’s contest will also mark the second-straight year South Carolina men’s soccer will be the first Gamecock team to kick off the sports season. “It’s a great honor to be the first team to open as far as at home,” Berson said. “It’s an exciting time on campus. If the students come to one game this year, the BU game is the game to come to be cause I think the excitement is go ing to be off the charts.” The Gamecocks will face their next opponent Sept. 1 at 2:00 p.m. at home against the Stetson Hatters. The Hatters’ head coach Sean Murphy is optimistic about this year’s team traveling to Columbia for its regular season opener. “This year’s team has the most well-balanced student-athletes during my tenure at Stetson,” Murphy said. “I have tyeen ex tremely pleased with the progress and conduct of the players on and off the field.” Coach Berson and his staff will focus on evaluating the youtliful Gamecocks’ performance this weekend. Fifteen of the 17 players are freshmen or sophomores. “You learn the most about your team from your first game to your second game and your second game to your third game,” Berson said. Berson is also thinking about his team’s health and condition ing heading into their third game in ten days. “The concern I have about Stetson is they’re from Florida,” Berson said. “They’ve been used to the heat, so they’re going to be very well acclimated to the condi tions and the fact that we have to play Friday night.” “We were a little bit banged up coming out of the Virginia game,” Berson said. “Jack Cummings’ ankle is in pretty bad shape. I sincerely doubt he’ll be able to play this weekend in ei ther game.” Senior midfielder Cummings’ absence, would leave junior for ward Anthony Stovall as the Gamecocks’ elder statesman. Stovall finished third on last year’s team in points with a total of nine. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmai l. com In~state 'IWNo.20b™£tough BY BRAD SENKIW i THE GAMECOCK ! If it wasn’t hard enough to be gin the 2003 season on the road, the women’s soccer team must do it against in-state rival Clemson. The Gamecocks face the No. 20 Tigers tonight and play again on Tuesday at home against Furman. Head coach Shelley Smith is very excited to showcase her team, but knows the Tigers will not be an easy opponent. “I think overall Clemson has been a very strong team in our re gion,” Smith said. “I think we’re still battling to get to that point. They probably have stronger tal ent, but as a team we play very well togethaCTv, Co-capdlji2^J(ison Jarrow thinks going against Clemson will help the inexperienced players feed off her leadership. “I feel confident with our team,” Jarrow said. “I’m really ex cited to start playing, especially to get after Clemson. I think that’ll be a great chance to prove our selves.” Jarrow said that even though the team has many freshmen and sophomores, the team under stands how important the Clemson game is. “Soccer-wise, there’s such competition there, more so than it just being Clemson-Carolina,” Jarrow said. “We’re fierce with each other and it gets pretty brutal on the field. You learn to under stand it and respect the rivalry and it pumps you up for games.” The Clemson Tigers are also opening its season and hope to build off of last season’s 14-8 record with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers have plenty of experience to rely on as eight starters return from last year’s successful season. Clemson lost the school’s all time leading scorer in Deliah Arrington, but it does have a strong senior in Lindsey Browne. After USC is done with Clemson, the team will quickly turn its attention to Furman. “Furman every year is a very strong team,” Smith said. “It’s al ways a battle when you play an in state rival.” The Paladins have been se • lected by the coaches to finish first in the Southern Conference this season after going 16-6-1 in 2003, including an undefeated year in the conference. The team has won four-straight conference titles. Furman opens its season tonight on the road at Michigan State. Smith said that besides a cou ple of injuries, the players that are ready to play are reasonably healthy and that she’s pleased with the attitude of her young, in experienced team. “They’re ready to go against an other team,” Smith said. “They’ve worked very hard and played hard against each other, but they want to go put that on the field.” The Clemson game is scheduled for a 7:30 start at Riggs Field at Clemson tonight. The Gamecocks play host to Furman at 7 p.m. at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium on Tuesday.. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com www.dailygamecock.com,