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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, September 19, 2003 7 ”| v T"| m C^i GAME SCHEDULE PflNTAPT TT^ I m ■ | J > I ' VOLLEYBALL vs. Duke at Gamecock Invitational, 7 p.m. 1/AVj L UO |- ■ ■ | ^ ^ MEN’S TENNIS at Southern Collegiate Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I \ Championship in Athens, Ga. E-mail us at gainecocksports@hotmail.com X^^ ■ CROSS COUNTRY (TEAM A) at UGA Invitational, Saturday FOOTBALL vs. Alabajjia-Birmingham, 7 p.m. Saturday Carolina looks to blaze by UAB UAB at USC 7 p.m. Saturday Columbia, S.C. TV: None BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK The USC football team (2-1) will take on the Alabama Birmingham Blazers (1-2) on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, and Dondrial Pinkins will start at quarterback. ^ Pinkins had to Bfight for his start ing spot at practice this week after a poor showing against Georgia. Pinkins But Holtz said that Pinkins deserved to remain as the starter based on his performance in practice this week. He said redshirt freshman Bennett Swygert would be ready to play and that and that freshman Blake Mitchell was just too inex perienced. Both USC and UAB are coming off losses going into Saturday’s game. Carolina went down to Athens, Ga., and got pummeled by the Georgia Bulldogs, while the Blazers were taken to task at home by cross-state rival Troy State. Though UAB endured its third loss in four games against Troy State, the Blazers from Birmingham have given SEC teams trouble in the past. Just three years ago, UAB went to LSU and beat the Tigers on a last-sec ond held goal. In last week’s 20-9 loss to Troy State, UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney threw two intercep tions and the team fumbled five times, losing three of those fum bles. UAB also couldn’t get in the end zone, instead relying on three field goals that were made by its star kicker, ISfick Hayes. Hayes hit from 38 yards, 46 yards and 28 yards away, all in the second quarter. If UAB is to compete with Carolina, Hayes will have to per form in similar fashion, but the Blazers must also score touch downs. In his opening season win at Baylor, Hackney completed 19 passes on 29 attempts, garnering 238 yards and two touchdowns. Hackney also won the game for the Blazers, throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass with 40 seconds left on the clock. To top it off, Hackney in jured his knee at the beginning of the fourth quarter and limped off the field after the touchdown. “And Darrell, what can you say? The doctors told him not to go back in and he said ‘tape me up.’ It was his call. He thought he could do it. He’s a gritty kid,” UAB head coach Watson Brown said in na news release. So far, Hack ney’s play has been the bright spot in UAB’s games, with the exception of the two interceptions against Troy Hackney state. USC defen sive backs will have their hands full, for in each of UAB’s three games this season, Hackney has thrown for more than 200 yards. The player who has been catch ing most of those passes, wide re ceiver Roddy White, is a graduate of St. James Island High School in Charleston. Over the past three games, White caught 16 receptions for 197 yards. The UAB defense is currently allowing only 18.7 points per game. The Blazer defense’s prob lem is mainly turnovers by the of fense, which keeps the offense from scoring points and pressures the defense to keep the game score very low. UAB has fumbled the ball 10 times this season, losing eight of those fumbles. USC, in contrast, has only fumbled three times and lost one fumble. Carolina has thrown four in terceptions, but the Gamecocks’ five total turnovers pale in com parison to the Blazers’ 10. Still, Brown is optimistic about UAB’s trip to Columbia. “I think this is a good team to play because they make you do these things,” Brown said. “We cannot beat South Carolina unless we do all.the little things right. I think it’s a great week to be play ing them.” USC head coach Lou Holtz is wary of UAB coming to town and said the Blazers are “a scary team.” “They have gone 16-12 since joining Conference USA against teams like Louisville, Cincinnati and East Carolina. They opened their season by beating Baylor on the road and then lost to Southern Miss in a conference game, out played them, but had four turnovers,” Holtz said in a news release. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will not be televised. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail. com PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Matthew Thomas makes a tough grab against Georgia. Carolina plays host to UAB Saturday at 7 p.m. Gamecocks down the Wildcats ^BY BRAD SENKIW ^PfHK (UMECOCK The USC women’s soccer team (3-3-1) got back to its winning ways on Wednesday as it thrashed the Davidson Wildcats 4-1 at Stone Stadium. Carolina scored three goals in the first period of play and held Davidson (3-4) scoreless in the second half to secure the victory. The Gamecocks dominated of fensively with 20 shots on goal, compared with the Wildcats two attempts. Melissa Hutson took four shots and scored one goal. Jackie Welch, Shelly Hoddeson and Stacey Zelek also scored for Carolina. Sarah Lentz picked up two assists. Goalkeeper Elise ^Matthews gave up only one goal ™ and recorded a save in the win. “I thought we competed well tonight and played the entire 90 minutes,” USC head coach Shelley Smith said. “Our players showed a , lot of heart and desire. We ran across the box well tonight with solid effort and were running like we want to score.” The Gamecocks struck first at the 18:12 mark, when Lentz put the ball into the box and Hoddeson came through and put it past the Wildcat goalkeeper in the left cor ner for her third goal of the season. Hutson scored her first goal of the season at the 33:10 mark, when Becca Epstein put a comer kick in »front of Lentz, who set up Hutson for the header that gave Carolina a 2-0 lead. After a misplay by USC at the 37:46 mark, Davidson’s Kara Kohem put the Wildcats only shot of the period past Matthews to cut the Gamecocks’ lead to 2-1. Zelek finished off the first period for Carolina by scoring her first goal of the season off an Ashley Williams assist. After halftime, neither team displayed much offense, but the Gamecocks did add a goal at the 81:39 mark, when Amanda Thurber kicked a cross into the box and Welch took the ball be tween two defenders and scored from 10 yards out to put the game out of reach for Davidson. USC’s next match will come on Sunday when the Gamecocks play host to the N.C. State Wolfpack (4-1 1). N.C. State is coming off two games at the George Mason/Kappa Invitational last weekend, where the team knocked off Delaware 3-1 and tied George Mason 1-1. The Wolfpack is off to a strong start with a championship at the College of Charleston/Quality Inn & Suites Invitational. N.C. State has beaten not only College of Charleston but Temple and Tulane as well, with its only loss coming to Villanova. The Gamecocks will have to keep a close eye on senior forward Lindsey Underwood, who is lead ing the Wolfpack in goals with five and has two game-winning goals this season. The team has scored 15 goals this year and has given up only eight. Sunday’s game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Stone Stadium. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotma il. com PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Stacy Zelek, right, connected on her first goal of the season in the first half of the Gamecock’s 4-1 win over Davidson. SPORTS CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Brad Wes Charles Adam David Mark The Gamecock’s readers and Senkiw Wolfe Tomlinson Beam Stagg Reardon staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editorin Managing Head Readerof with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Designer the Week weekend's games. (Rankings (19-11) (21-9) (22-8) (23-7) (24-6) (16-12) are from The Associated Press.) Kentucky at Indiana_ Kentucky Kentucky Indiana Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky 7 Georgia at 11 LSU_ LSUGeorgiaLSUGeorgia Georgia Georgia Colorado at 10 Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Colorado 3 Michigan at 22 Oregon Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan ^ 12 Tennessee at 17 Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida Nortnwestem at Duke Duke N western Duke N western Duke Duke Michigan State at Notre Dame N. Dame N. Dame Mich. St N. Dame N. Dame N. Dame 16 Arizona St. at 18 Iowa_ Ariz. St. Iowa Ariz. St. Iowa Ariz. St. Ariz. St. Clemson at Georgia Tech Tech Tech Tech Tech Tech Tech UAB at USC . USC UAB USC IjSC USC USC 27-10 19-17 14-6 28-7 21-7 28-7 SPORTS CHALLENGE'S FOURTH-WEEK OUTLOOK: Staff writer Kevin Fellner had a huge week, finishing 7-3 despite having the wrong score printed in last week’s issue. Charles Tomlinson and Adam Beam finished at 6-4, while everyone else ended with a dismal 4-6. The selected staff member, head designer David Stagg, has a slight edge over Beam, who is just happy to be competing. The Reader of the Week is struggling to keep up the pace, but this week’s reader, Mark Reardon, hopes to be the first to capture the weekly title. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you're picked and have tke best record, you’ll wih a free GamecockT-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want. BRIEFLY Johansen receives tourney invitation USC men’s golfer Eirik Johansen was selected to par ticipate in the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic on Thursday. Johansen will be one of 30 golfers nationally and seven golfers from the Southeastern Conference to play in the Classic. The 29th annual Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic will start Sunday, Nov. 23, and will last through Tuesday, Nov. 25, in El Paso, Texas. The Classic will con sist of a putting contest and a long-drive competition on Nov. 23 with the two-day tour nament occurring on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25. Johansen finished sixth at The Ridges Intercollegiate this past weekend. Split cross country teams to compete The USC Cross Country team will split up this week end, with the A-team going to participate in the Bulldog Stampede at Athens, Ga., and the B-team to run in the Country Inn & Suites Winthrop Cross Country Invitational in Rock Hill, S.C. The Bulldog Stampede begins at 8:15 a.m., and the Winthrop Invitational begins at 10:15 a.m., both on Saturday. The Bulldog Stampede’s women’s 5K will include Central Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida, Georgia Southern, LSU, Mercer, South Florida, Vanderbilt, Wichita State and Georgia. The Winthrop Invitational will feature over 30 colleges and universities, while both competitions will include races for high school teams. Men’s basketball season opener set The USC men’s basketball team will be one of three teams to play host to opening round games of the Guardians Classic, a 12-team preseason tournament. The first two rounds will be played on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18, and the University of Richmond and Southwest Missouri State will be the other two opening round sites. The winners of the three regionals, along with one wild card team, will advance to the champi onship rounds at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., which will be held Nov. 24 and Nov. 25. Carolina will play Gardner Webb on Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. The winner of the USC-Gardner Webb game will play the win ner of the Elonjdaho game. The other teams in the tour nament are Mississippi Valley State, Mount Saint Mary’s, New Hampshire, San. Francisco, Tennessee-Martin and Western Illinois. Roche inducted into hall of fame Jon Roche, a former USC basketball star, was inducted into the the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday. The ceremony was held at [ the New York City Downtown -Athletic Club. Also inducted were Ed Conlin, Leroy Ellis, Richard “Chink” Gaines and Albert “Butch” Lee, with the coach being Danny Lynch and bas ketball contributor being Floyd Lane. Men’s soccer hopes to stay undefeated after big weekend BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK The No. 15 USC men’s soccer team enjoyed some time off this week after defending its home turf in the Gamecock Soccer Classic last weekend. Carolina (6-0) posted shutouts against Jacksonville, 4-0, and Alabama A&M, 3-0, to win the tournament held at Stone Stadium. The shutouts marked the third and fourth of the season for the Gamecock defense. “To face both. Jacksonville and Alabama A&M and not give up a goal is an outstanding accom plishment for our team,” USC head coach Mark Berson said. The impressive start ties for the third best in men’s soccer history at Carolina. Highlights from the tourna ment included the play of fresh man goaltender Brad Guzan, who was not only named the de fensive MVP for the tournament but was also named to the College Soccer Neffs National Team of the Week. Guzan has only allowed two goals all year and ranks eighth in the country in goals-against average at .333. In addition to Guzan, Jack Cummings, Ryan Deter and Eric . Szeszycki made the Gamecock Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team. The fast start for the men’s soc cer team has garnered much na tional recognition for the young team. The impressive record makes them one of only nine teams in Division I-A to remain undefeated. On Tuesday, the NCAA released its updated statis tics, which showed Carolina in the top 25 in eight categories, six of which were team categories. Some of these categories include scoring offense (fourth at 3.17 goals per match), goals against av erage (seventh at .33 goals per game) and shutout percentage (11th at .67). Carolina now turns its atten tion to its next opponent, the Appalachian State Mountaineers (2-3-1). The Mountaineers will en ter Columbia as heavy'under dogs, as its season has had its early ups and downs. With wins over UNC-Asheville and James Madison, Appalachian State will not be taken lightly by coach Berson or the Gamecocks. Appalachian State also posted 4 solid performance in the George Mason/Comfort Inn Soccer Classic, in which they had three players named to the all tournament team. Goalkeeper Phillip Cavicchia was named the tournament’s defensive MVP af ter recording 17 saves in two games. Appalachian State was picked to finish fifth in the Southern Conference in the pre season under first-year head coach Paul Stahlschmidt. Stahlschmidt replaced Dan Golan, who played soccer at USC from 1984 to 1988 and was an as sistant coach under Berson from 1995 to 2000. Carolina and Appalachian State are scheduled to take the field on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Stone Stadium. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com