The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 29, 2003, Page 7, Image 7
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.
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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
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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.
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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..
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www.dailygamecock.com,