The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 18, 2004, Page 7, Image 7
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