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GAME SCHEDULE Pap-e 7 MEN’S SOCCER at Charleston, 6 p.m. Wednesday j ^ ^ , 10 VOLLEYBALL vs. Georgia, 7 p.m. Friday Monday, October 18, 2004 WOMEN’S SOCCER at Arkansas, 8 p.m. Friday Young USC basketball team excels in trip north of border I.1. 1 KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Sophomore guard Tre Kelley takes on freshman guard Stephen McDowell in preparation for the basketball team’s trip to Canada. The team won all three games on the trip in blowout fashion. ■ Gamecocks win 3 games over a 4-day span in Canada By STEPHEN DEMEDIS THE GAMECOCK Returning from a trip to Canada with an unblemished 3-0 record, the USC men’s basketball team will look to carry its momentum into the regular season with its first game less than a month away. The team played against Carleton, Ottawa and Concordia in a four-day span. “This trip ended exactly like we wanted. We came up here and nobody got hurt, everyone got to play a lot of minutes, and we play an enormous amount of basketball,” coach Dave Odom said. “We have good r athleticism, good basketball ability and good instinct. Because of that, we have a chance of having a really good team this year.” In Thursday’s opener, the Gamecocks defeated the Ravens of Carleton University in a 75-35 victory. The team was led by sophomore forward Renaldo Balkman’s 16-point effort coming off the bench. Balkman also contributed six of the Gameocks’s 21 rebounds. The team shot 51 percent from the field compared to their opponent’s 20 percent shooting effort. The Ravens sat their starters for much of the second half to keep them fresh for an upcoming tournament, but that did not prevent Odom from praising his team’s effort. “Clearly we controlled the game defensively and it was difficult to score against us. Offensively, as you would expect this time of year, we are still a ways away, but we should be better tomorrow night offensively,” Odom said. And that was exactly the case. In its second outing, USC beat Ottawa 82 44. The Gamecocks shot just 48 percent, but had five players in double digits. Tarence Kinsey led the team with 16 points in just 16 minutes of play. The guard from Tampa, Fla., gave USC a 17-point lead heading into the half with a three pointer at the buzzer. Forward Carlos Powell stepped up with 13 points in the absence of center John Chappell, who was out with a knee injury. The morning before the game, the 1 two teams scrimmaged, something that Odom does not remember doing in the past. The team worked on its zone offense and the transition game, an area where the team looks to be greatly improved. Sophomore Guard Tre Kelley said: “We played great defense last year, but from this year to last year, the way we get up the floor is much better. Our transition game should be really good this season.” By the third game of their road trip, the Gamecocks were clicking on all cylinders. Carolina posted its highest total of the road haul with a 106-73 win over Concordia University. The team shot a much-improved 62 percent from the field, including 80 percent from beyond the arc, and grabbed 41 rebounds. The Stingers managed just 17. Sophomore Brandon Wallace came up big for the team, totaling 21 points, including three three-pointers, six rebounds and four blocked shots. His teammates also got a considerable amount of attention as dunks by Josh Gonner, Balkman and Antoine Tisby brought the Canacfian crowd to its feet. “I thought everyone would be speaking French. People speak English, and the women are very pretty. The people are really friendly." TARENCE KINSEY JUNIOR GUARD According to his teammates, the most improved player from last season has been Kelley. The point guard started two of the three games in Canada and scored 13 points against the Stingers. Kelley will be forced to take on a much larger role this year because of the graduation of Mike Boynton and the fact that he is the only point guard with college experience on the roster. “Last year, he didn’t have a big role, but this year, Tre will have to take on a bigger one. I think that he has taken charge of the team and he seems excited about his new responsibility,” Balkman said. Kinsey added, “He seems like he has been doing this (leading the team) for a while because he isn’t hesitating. If he makes a mistake, he plays through it. While in Canada, the team had a chance to visit the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa and see what life is like in another country, something most players had never experienced before. “1 thought Canada was going to be boring, but we have been really busy. I thought everyone would be speaking French. People speak English, and the women are very pretty. The people are really friendly," Kinsey said. The team returned home Sunday night. After a few days off, the team will get back to work, preparing for the season opener at home on Nov. 21 against Western Carolina. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu SARAH ZIUNSKY/THE GAMECOCK Senior defender Sarah Lentz dribbles past an MSU defender in Sunday’s game. Lentz is one of three seniors on the team. Womens soccer winless in SEC By MIQUELJACOBS THE GAMECOCK October refuses to be a friendly month for the Gamecocks as the South Carolina women’s soccer team again failed to register its first conference victory. In two close matches, the Gamecocks (6-9-2, 0-6 2 SEC) were held scoreless Friday night against Ole Miss (7-8, 3-4 SEC) and suffered a heartbreaker against Mississippi State (6-7-3, 3-4-1 SEC) on Sunday afternoon. The Mississippi Rebels came into Columbia seeking momentum as their record had them hanging onto the eighth and final spot for the upcoming SEC Tournament. Reeling after two losses, the Rebels attacked Carolina quickly and successfully. A goal by Hillary Beckham at the 13:35 mark of the match proved to be the deciding goal as Carolina was defeated 1-0. The goal was Beckham’s first of the season and came on a mistake by USC goalkeeper Lindsay Thorstenson. The assist was registered to Leigh Barrow, whose cross in the box forced Thorstenson out of position for the save. Both teams continued to play tough defense following the score as the shot total on the match was 17. The offenses for both teams remained stagnant due to the pressure and the only real scoring threat for Carolina came at the 85:38 mark when freshman midfielder Ashley Kirk cracked a line-drive attempt toward the upper corner of the net that was snatched out of the air by Ole Miss keeper Ann Shelton. Afterward, coach Shelley Smith remained optimistic in a match that was even throughout sans the one mistake that cost the game. “Our team played hard out there tonight and they did what we asked them to do,” Smith said. “The effort was great. Ole Miss capitalized on a mistake we made in the back and it’s unfortunate because we played well today. We have to continue to work on being more dangerous in the offensive third of the field.” Sunday’s match-up against Mississippi State proved an ample opportunity for USC to show itself as a dangerous team as they battled a team that was also looking for wins to help earn a spot in the SEC Tournament. Unbeknownst to those in attendance, the crowd at The Graveyard was to be in for a treat as both teams played with passion in what would be Carolina’s fourth overtime game of the season. Unfortunately, what seemed to be a sure victory ended in yet another ♦ Please see WOMEN, page 8 Worst idea ever: scheduling fair and USC Homecoming together ■ Bad day as a Gamecock better than being a Tiger Football is fun. Homecoming is fun. The fair is fun. Having a homecoming football | game at the same time as the fair is not fun. In the contest for Worst Idea Ever, scheduling our homecoming football game during the South Carolina State Fair has to be at least second place (right behind Crystal Pepsi “the crystal clear cola for the ’90s”). It was horrible. Because of the early start time and my addiction to tailgating, my friends and I awoke at 8:30 a.m. to get to the fair grounds early enough to get a good parking space. For those of you who take afternoon classes, trust me, absolutely nothing good is happening at 8:30 in the morning. We pile into a truck along with a giant grill, a cooler, a bunch of chairs | and a propane tank. What fire hazard? Bad decision No. 3: We decide to go down Assembly Street. On the way over I wonder aloud if we should have just gone down Rosewood (file this under “obvious foreshadowing”). Needless to say Assembly Street is so slow that at one point I catch a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror and I have grown a Harrison Ford-in-The-Fugitive beard. I look to my right and a guy we passed in the parking lot has now passed us. He is t walking. About 45 minutes into the journey I catch a butt cramp. Great. 1 knew I should have stretched. A solid JAftfc hour after our BROOM departure, we finally arrive SECOND-YEAR at the POLITICAL “ ' SCIENCE fairgrounds. STUDENT As we enter, a woman flagging us in warns us “no grills allowed.” After planning our entire weekend around grilling hot dogs and kabobs, I contemplate whether assaulting this woman would be worth the jail time. Seconds before I go Mike Tyson on the flag lady, another fairgrounds employee informs us that the no-grill rule only applies to charcoal grills. Thank God. We finally park the truck. After a few minutes of debate, we decide to leave the grill in the back of the truck and just stand there and cook instead of putting it on the ground. Cooking hot dogs in the bed of a truck? Welcome to the South. We light up the grill, and as we are about to commence cooking we realize that the grill is disgusting, and we don’t have any paper towels. We decide to clean the grill with a rock. What can I say, it looked clean. We give up on cleaning the grill and decide to roll the dice and just hope we don’t get a disease. I i__ volunteer to eat the first “dirt dog," and since I don’t die from it, the others eat theirs, too. After sitting around for a few minutes letting the dirt dogs digest, we hear that if you have your ticket you can get into the fair for free. I purchase an elephant ear and save it until after the game. After this we head to the game — . and we all know how that went. It was not fun. I wander out of the stadium and forego the post-game kabobs. I walk silently back to my room. At least I have my elephant ear to make me happy again. I eat two-thirds of the elephant ear and it begins World War III in my stomach. Why didn’t anybody tell me that elephant ears and dirty hot dogs are mortal enemies? I curse the remainder of the elephant ear, throw it away and groan. Suddenly, I realize I have been up since 8:30 a.m. and decide that a nap would be the best thing for now. I mutter something about how I’m never going to another football game again, and I pass out on the bed. I awaken two hours later. I am still upset about the loss but I realize that no matter what, Clemson is still having a losing season. Charlie Whitehurst has thrown 11 interceptions. I am qnce again happy. Like coash Holtz says, things are never as good or as bad as they seem. We just lost to a lesser team on homecoming —- but at least I didn’t spot any orange overalls in the crowd. No matter what, my worst day as a Gamecock is still better than any day as a Tiger. 1 _ No. 7 Carolina scoreless in back-to-back defeats ( NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Freshman midfielder Ramon Paracat tries to avoid two Clemson defenders in last week’s rivalry win. The Gamecocks dropped two games in a row this weekend for the first time this season. By BRIAN DAVIS THE GAMECOCK The No. 7 Carolina men’s soccer team dropped consecutive matches for the first time this season. The losses came against perennial national powerhouse North Carolina and Charlotte in the four-day span. The Gamecocks fell to North Carolina 2-0 in a match at Chapel Hill. Despite controlling the advantage in shooting, 15-14, the Gamecocks were unable to put one in the net. “We created a number of very good chances, and I thought we were unlucky not to get an equalizer,” coach Mark Berson said of the impressive second half effort by the Gamecocks. The Tar Heels scored first in the 27th minute of play as sophomore forward Corey Ashe one-timed a shot past Carolina sophomore goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Ashe was assisted by two teammates on the goal, his 5th of the season. The Gamecocks started off slow but reenergized in the second half, hoping to tie the game. However, they were unable to, and the game was put out of reach by UNC sophomore Jamie Watson in the 83rd minute, scoring his third goal of the season. In their first match of the week, the Gamecocks lost to Charlotte 1-0 at Stone Stadium Wednesday night. The lone goal of the contest was scored by Mira Mupier the 35th minute. Mupier received a pass inside the 6-yard box from Floyd Franks and knocked in the game winner. Carolina led Charlotte 20 13 in shooting and had many excellent opportunities to tie the ganrte. The most promising of these took place in the 28th minute when senior forward Michael Sambursky was flagged for offsides after receiving a pass from freshman striker Sebastian Lindholm and nailing the ball off the crossbar and into the net. • Other situations wert missed when Charlotte defenders make tough saves and skimming the ball over the crossbar. These close misses were taken by juniors Josh Alcala and Greg Reece, along with freshmen Lindholm and Jose Ramos. Fortunately, the Gamecocks were able to avoid a multi-goal defeat wh^i Charlotte’s Blake Smith missed a penalty kick five minutes before the end of regulation. Since the Gamecocks’ victory over Clemson, they have been held scoreless for the first two times this season, and suffered their first home loss. ♦ Please see MEN, page 8