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8 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, November 10, 2003 GAME SCHEDULE < MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Sakalai All-Stars, 7:30 p.m. Thursday CONTACT US MEN’S AND W0MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING vs. Florida, Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? FOOTBALL vs. Florida, 12:30 p.m. Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com VOLLEYBALL vs. Florida, 7 p.m. Friday Men’s soccer can’t get past UNC PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELl/THE GAMECOCK (JSC’s Makan Hislop slides into a defender in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the No. 13 North Carolina Tar Heels. It was Senior Day and the final game of the Gamecocks home season. \ BY STEPHEN DEMEDIS THE GAMECOCK In the Carolina border battle, the USC men’s soccer team (8-7-2) dropped its final home game of the season to the University of North Carolina (12-3-3) by the narrowest of margins, 1-0., While the loss all but eliminates USC from postseason play, the team turned in one of its strongest efforts of the year against the 13th ranked Tar Heels. The Gamecocks came out strong in the first half, pushing the Heels deep in their own end. Possession and momentum swung back and forth between the two sides until UNC took the lead in the 43rd minute of play. The go-ahead goal came on a counter attack by North Carolina. Forward Wes Shull found a charg ing Corey Ashe in the box and crossed the ball over. The fresh man timed the pass perfectly and scored uncontested by an under manned Gamecock defense. I'JWI ui vtuuuiia 10 Vtij &V/VJV* v/n the counter play, and we knew that coming in,” USC head coach Mark Berson said. “We knew that when we brought the ball forward that we had to complete our passes and not get caught with too many people up field. On the goal, they just had numbers and found each other very quickly. It was lethal.” USC played catch-up the re mainder of the game and, despite many opportune shots, was unable to tie the score. Throughout the game, they didn’t control the ball well and displayed a lack of inten sity. The team totaled 13 shots but continued to fail in converting their scoring chances. “The stats are dead even tonight, except for one, and that is because we didn’t finish our chances,” Berson said. “That has been a thing that we are working on. Not just tonight; but going back, our record is significantly different if we just convert on some shots.” Forward Ayo Akinsete, Carolina’s leading scorer, finished with a team high four shots but was unable to hit his mark each n time. USC also failed to convert on ' free kicks around the box and ne glected to take open shots from the top of the penalty area. When the Gamecocks did fire, UNC’s goal keeper Justin Hughes was in po sition to make the save. USC’s defense turned in yet an other strong effort in the narrow defeat. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan shut down a potent UNC attack with many lunging saves and fin ished with five saves on the night. The back three shut out North Carolina’s top two scorers, Jamie Watson and Marcus Storey, and held the two to a mere three shots on goal. “South Carolina’s defense played a great game tonight,” Storey said. “We knew that they were tough at the back, and we tried to find different ways to beat them. We were lucky to get that first goal on a break, and they played us tough the rest of the game.” The loss brings the overall record between the two schools to 13-10-1 in North Carolina’s favor, but also affects each team’s sea son. North Carolina will play next week in the ACC Tournament against N.C. State and likely ad vance to the NCAA Tournament. USC will end its season in Miami next week against Florida International, a team currently ranked eighth in the nation. Saturday’s game also marked the conclusion of midfielder Jack Cummings’ career with the Gamecocks. As the only senior on the squad, Cummings was hon- ‘Jj ored before the game with his par ents, Nancy and Ken Cummings. Cummings finished his four years as team captain and with seven goals to his credit. USC’s match against Florida International will be at 7 p.m. on Nov. 15. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail. com Volleyball falters against Vols BY WES WOLFE TIIEIiAMECOCK The USC volleyball team (12 14, 6-8 SEC) couldn’t stop the Tennessee attack as the Lady Vols (18-8,8-6 SEC) took it to the Gamecocks 3-1. The win was the first SEC road win for UT this season, its first win in Columbia and first sweep of USC since 1993. “We are a good team at times in our matches, but we need to put it together all at once,” USC head coach Kim Hudson Christopher said. “Today was not one of those matches. Shonda Cole showed a lot of maturity to day. She has made the transition from a great high school player to a good college player.” Cole came up big for Carolina in the loss, posting 17 kills and oply four errors to hit .382 on the day. Niece Curry also played well for the Gamecocks, nailing nine kills and committing no er rors to lead the team in hitting at .562. Still, Cole and Curry could not put together enough offense to counter Tennessee, who had four players with dou ble-digit kills. The first game had Carolina out-hitting Tennessee and play ing close, but still couldn’t seem to put it together, and the Gamecocks lost 30-26. Game two started out like a blowout, with the Lady Vols lead ing by as many as 11 before USC game back to tie it up at 24. Through Gamecock mistakes and good play by UT, Tennessee pulled out the win 30-28. Carolina finally got back on the road in the third game by jumping out to an eight-point lead. USC led by eight at several times during the game, eventu ally winning 30-22. Cole had five kills in the game, while Carolina played mistake-free as a team and did not commit any errors. It looked like the Gamecocks might have turned the match around in the fourth game, but it was not to be. Carolina actually led 20-14 before falling victim to a run by the Lady Vols who pulled even, then pulled ahead and won 30-26. USC will next be on the court against the undefeated Florida Gators on Friday and Georgia on Sunday. Florida will certain ly prove to be tough to handle and lived up to advanced billing in a 3-0 dominant performance against Carolina on Oct. 26 in Gainesville. Georgia will also be tough; the Bulldogs beat the Gamecocks 3-1 earlier in the sea son and held USC to only 14 points in game four of the match. Florida will play Carolina at 7 p.m. on Friday, and Georgia will step on the court at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Both matches will be at the Volleyball Competition Facility. Following this weekend’s matches, Carolina will play host to the SEC Volleyball Tourna ment, which will be held at the Volleyball Competition Facility from Nov. 21-23. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com BRIEFLY Gutierrez, Suzuki win doubles match The USC women’s tennis team finished up the fall season at the SEC Coaches Fall Classic in Atlanta on Saturday. Carolina placed an individ ual or a doubles team in the semifinal of each flight that a member of the team competed in. Miranda Gutierrez and Ayako Suzuki teamed up to win in doubles, making them the only winners for the Gamecocks. Gutierrez and Suzuki knocked off the No. 1 seed in the B doubles tournament. The combo defeated Laura Maurer and Christine. Simpson of Kentucky 8-4. In the A doubles, Christyn Lucas and Magda Wojdylo fin ished fourth of 16 double teams after falling to Sarah Foster and Joel Schewnk of Kentucky. “We had a good weekend in Atlanta competing against the rest of the SEC,” USC head coach Arlo Elkins said. The team will resume play next semester when it competes against the Furman Paladins on Feb. 14. Equestrian team has strong finish The USC equestrian team placed first and second in two . western IHSA competitions at Judson College on Saturday in Marion, Ala. It was the final show of the fall semester for the Gamecocks. Freshman Rachel Sternoff won the Open Horsemanship and was named high point rid er. Also for USC, freshman Julia Johnson was named re serve high point rider in both competitions. Johnson was second and fifth respectively in reining and horsemanship in the first com petition and won reining in the second. Carolina gets the season go ing again on Feb. 7, when the team will play host to a show with Kansas State. USC swimming and diving defeat LSU ^ The USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving team (2-2) picked up a win on the road against the LSU Tigers on Friday. The men’s team won 144 96, while the women took a 133 110 victory. For the men, Tamas Szucs placed first in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle, while several other Gamecocks finished second. Andy Bradley won both the 1 meter and 3-meter diving titles. Ashleigh Bastak had a big day on the women’s side with a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle and a second-place landing in the 100-yard^ freestyle. Jennifer Assen took first in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Allison Brennan finished first in the 1-meter and second in the 3-meter, with Holly Hodges winning the 3-meter. Carolina’s next meet will come against the Florida Gators, who will come to town Friday. Sooners ’ defeat ofAggies wasn ’t show of bad sportsmanship BEN SINCLAIR GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Running up the score can’t always be avoided. After convincingly whipping the Texas A&M Aggies 77-0 on Saturday, you would think there would be little to criticize about the Oklahoma Sooners and head football coach Bob Stoops. What sweet revenge on a team that cost Oklahoma a shot at last vear’s na tional title, right? Apparently, that is not the case in today’s society. In this new college football world we live in, filled with quirky BCS formulas that determine the two teams playing for the nation al championship, coaches now have to win large enough to main tain their ranking, yet not beat a team so bad that the winning team is looked upon as having bad sportsmanship. Yes, 77-0 is a bad score. Even Steve Spurrier did not put that much of a beating on Central Michigan. But why must a coach defend himself for the other team playing so poorly? The Aggies should be asking themselves how they managed to get more yards in penalties than in total offense. Or maybe how they got beat worse than any team at Texas A&M since they began playing football 108 years ago. In fact, if anyone showed poor sportsmanship in this game, it was Texas A&M. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Sooners mercifully ran four straight running plays up the middle from the 3-yard line in a clear attempt to avoid scoring 80 points and getting the game over with. Instead of gracefully re turning to the sidelines after fi nally stopping the Sooners on fourth-and-goal, the Aggies cele brated like they had just made a goal-line stance to win the na tional championship. More times than not, the person who is crying about sportsman ship and running up the score ei ther plays, on or is the fan of a ter rible team. Instead of crying about how bad someone is beating you, how about figure out a way for them not to score 77 points with out you getting three? Better yet, if you are getting beaten that bad ly and want to quit, start running the ball so that you can get off the field as soon as possible. Anyone remember the Outback Bowl in 2002, when South Carolina had a comfortable 28 0 lead the Gamecocks held late in the third quarter? If not for an interception that was returned deep into Gamecock territory late in the fourth quarter, that might have been the biggest comeback in Outback Bowl history. As Daniel Weaver came on to kick the even tual game-winning field goal from 42 yards out as time expired, I was praying that we had “run up the score” just a little bit more on Ohio State. Our beloved Gamecocks have been on the other side of the fence as well. Just two weeks ago, the Gamecocks rallied from a 43-14 deficit in the third quarter. At that moment, I was glad that I did not make the trip to Ole Miss and was planning my postgame meal. However, with a little less than two minutes to go in the game, USC kicked off trailing 43-40. One defensive stance or an onside kick and USC could be bowl eligible right now. Yet I wonder if Eli Manning and company would have rolled up a few more points when the score was 43-14 would people have claimed that Ole Miss demonstrated little sportsman ship. I know they would have liked at least one more touchdown. A game is not over until it is over. In fact, what separates a miraculous comeback and a mas sacre is usually the resiliency of the team being beat. This is why sports fans cherish the seemingly impossible comebacks that occur^ more often than they seem. ThaV is why I have not forgotten when the 1993 Buffalo Bills rallied from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers in the National Football League playoffs. That is why no one will forget the San Francisco 49ers coming back from 24 points down in the final quar ter to defeat the New York Giants last year in the playoffs. Next time the Aggies get down 35-0,1 suggest they think the same way — or it could get really ugly. Sinclair is a graduate student in the College of Education. _