The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 15, 2004, Page 11, Image 11
GAME SCHEDULE
1 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. UNLV in the WBCA Classic, 8 p.m.
rage 11 FOOTBALL vs. Clemson, Noon
Monday, November 15, 2004 MEN’S SWIMMING vs. Virginia, 1 p.m.
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Michael Sambursky lines up a shot earlier this season. Sambursky and the rest of the Gamecocks will wait attentively to find out if they will be invited to the NCAA tourney.
USC ends regular season with a blast
■ Mens soccer upsets
No. 21 Florida
International
By MATTHEW NAGY
THE GAMECOCK
It was a great way to end the regular
season, as the USC men’s soccer team
(12-6-1) took the lead with only five
minutes of play and never looked back.
In the end it was a 3-1 win against No.
21 Florida International (11-6-0) and it
was Ryan Deter who led the way for the
Gamecocks.
“I’m just tremendously proud of
this team. They’ve played so well here
in big games, and must-win
situations,” head coach Mark Berson
said. Carolina was able to respond
after a tough game against Coastal
Carolina last weekend.
Sebastian Lindholm received a
clever pass from Ryan Deter to score
the game’s first goal. Deter was able to
block a Panther defender’s outlet pass
and carry the ball down the left side of
the box.
Lindholm was ready and waiting
on the right side just outside of the
6-yard box when Deter swung a
quick pass over. The standout from
Sweden was able to finish for USC,
pounding the ball into the lower right
corner of the net for his seventh goal
of the season.
The goal moves the forward
from Sweden into the top-10
scoring list of Gamecock freshmen.
Along with his seven goals,
Lindholm has also had four assists
on the year. But the afternoon
belonged to Ryan Deter, who was
involved in all three goals scored
gaining an assist, scoring the
second, and getting fouled inside
the 18-yard box drawing a penalty
kick. *
“His fighting power is what creates
a lot of opportunities because he
pressures balls, he goes after balls that
might be a half chance and he makes
something good out of it,” Berson
said.
Deter, who has been playing with
a broken right hand, was able to
get the second goal of the game five
minutes into the second half when
Jose Ramos sailed a perfect cross
from the middle of the field to a
waiting Mike Sambursky on the
right hand edge of the 18-yard box.
Sambursky played the ball through
the feet of the defenders, leading
right to Deter.
When Sambursky and Deter
arrived at the ball at the same time
inside the box, it was Deter who
knocked the ball through to put USC
up 2-0.
Seven minutes later, Deter again
was in the mix on the offensive side of
the pitch, drawing a foul from the
Golden Panthers inside of the box.
Knowing that he could put the game
away for good, captain Eric Szeszycki
lined up to take his fifth penalty kick
of the season.
The junior from Round Rock,
Texas struck the ball perfectly into the
top right corner to remain a perfect 5
5 on penalty kicks this season.
The defense, which looked sloppy
at times, was able to contain FIU’s
attack-oriented offense. “They are
one of the best attacking teams
anywhere, so we knew that they
were going to get some chances,”
Berson said.
The Gamecocks held off the
Golden Panthers for 70 minutes
before Fernando Plentz finally broke
loose for FIU.
The goal was too little to late
however, and Carolina was able to
hang on to a 3-1 lead in large pan
because of the play of Deter and the
defense.
Carolina is now 6-0 this season
when scoring three goals or more,
and remains undefeated all time
against the Golden Panthers.
The win was the Gamecocks’ fourth
against a ranked team this season, and
Carolina should lock up an NCAA
tournament birth with the victory.
The Gamecocks, who have daned
in and out of the major soccer polls
and ranked as high as No. 8 this
year, may be looking forward to
hosting regional matches in the first
and second round at the Graveyard.
The tournament selections will be
’broadcast live on ESPN News Monday
at 4:30 p.m.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockspoits@givm.se. edu
Carolina drops
season opener
■ Washington wins
65-53 in comeback
against Gamecocks
By BRIAN DAVIS
THE GAMECOCK
The USC women’s basketball
team dropped their first game of the
season Sunday to the Washington
Huskies 65-53 at Bank of America
Arena in Seattle.
“I was impressed with
Washington. They’ll only continue
to get better,” USC head coach
Susan Walvius said. “They did a
great job on defense and on the
boards against us today.”
The Gamecocks led for most of
the first half and until the final 10
minutes, when the Huskies went
on a run and took the lead at 39
38 at the 9:19 mark in the second
half.
The Huskies would never
relinquish the lead. Down 37-30
with more than 12 and a half
minutes remaining, the Huskies
went on a 21-0 run to claim a
commanding lead at 51-38 with just
under six minutes remaining.
Following two commanding
exhibition games, the Huskies were led
by Kayla Burt, Breanna Watson and
Dominique Banks, who each
contributed 12 points in the rallying
effort.
The Huskies shot 33 percent to the
Gamecocks’ 34 percent, but took 11
more shots in the game.
USC was 5 for 20 from beyond
the three-point line, while the
Huskies shot 10 for 25. This boost
was helpful in the Huskies’ late run,
converting three of them in this
seven-minute stretch. Th^* major flaw
in the Gamecock effort was 30
turnovers for the team, a problem
-rh?r hoc nlam.^rl 1 KT' r^r/r
Washington scored 37 points off
turnovers, while USC had 24. This is
especially telling because the
Gamecocks also forced 23 turnovers
on the Huskies but could not
capitalize as often.
USC was led by sophomore guard
Lauren Simms, who totaled 12 points
and two rebounds, but fouled out
with 3:30 remaining in the second
half. On the boards, the Gamecocks
were led by redshirt freshman
Melanie Johnson, who led the team
with eight rebounds while freshman
center Ilona Burgrova and .junior
forward Olga Gritsaeva each claimed
“I like our talent but
one thing we have to
learn is that a lot of
times, games are
decided by runs.”
SUSAN WALVIUS
USC HEAD COACH
five.
“I like our talent but one thing we
have to learn is that a lot of times,
games are decided by runs," Walvius
said. “We turned the ball over a lot
and at times it looked like we
panicked. You can’t turn the ball over
30 times against-- a team like
Washington and expect to win on the
road.”
The Huskies next game is Monday
night against the No. 14 Minnesota
Gophers, who topped UNLV by eight
points Sunday afternoon. The 0-1
Gamecocks will square ofF with
UNLV Monday night in their final
game at the WBCA/BTI Classic.
USC, which has no seniors, will return
home Friday at' 7 p.m. in an
exhibition^ game against Everyone’s
Internet.
—-^-*
CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK
Nicole Miller serves the ball in USC’s last home game. Miller and the Gamecocks have qualified for
the eighth and final spot in this year’s SEC Tournament after fighting for position late in the season.
Gators clinch 14th strai
By STEPHEN FASTENAU
STAFF WRITER
USC dropped its 22nd straight
meeting with Florida as the No. 7
Gators clinched a share of their 14th
SEC title in as many years with a 3-0
win Friday. Florida (23-3, 15-1) won
its 145th consecutive regular season
match, a streak which ended Sunday
when the Gators fell to the No. 15
Tennessee Volunteers. The Gamecocks
fell to 12-12 overall and 5-10 in the
SEC.
“We had some good moments
tonight bur we would continuously
got ourselves into tough situations
during some rotations and that was
1 - 11^-1-L
lot of errors tonight, and you can’t
allow those against a team like
Florida.”
Shonda Cole had 13 kills for USC
while Florida junior Jane Collymore
also had 13. Gator senior Sherri
Williams added 10 kills.
The Gators led in every major
statistical category. Florida had 13
more kills, 11 more digs, and five
more aces than USC while out-hitting
its opponent .312 to .067.
Florida jumped out to an early 8
0 lead in the first game. After a USC
rally brought the team within two at
8-6, the Gators pushed khe lead to
16-6 on their way to taking the game
30-18.
game. Florida had 15 kills to 14 foi
USC and the Gamecocks had more
assists than the Gators. USC
committed 10 errors to just foui
for Florida.
It was the Gamecocks whc
mounted an early charge in the second
game. USC had an early 8-4 lead and
at one point led 11-5 before Florida
came back with a 7-0 run to take ovei
the lead at 12-11.
The game then went back and
forth with the Gators eventually
gaining the upper hand by taking
advantage of more USC errors
and winning 30-22. j The
Gamecocks had added 10 more
errors in the game while hitting
It’s time
to start
the trash
talking
■ The Clemson game
this week has USC
fans in a frenzy
Since it is Clemson week and I
am already giddy, this week’s
column will be a couple of short
thing* I discovered recently that I
thought were sufficiendy
[entertaining.
Besides, like I
said, this is
Clemson
week, so
shouldn’t you
be talking
trash to
somebody?
AKE excited. I can’t
BROOM help it. You
should be, too.
SECOND-YEAR T
POLITICAL
SCIENCE looking
STUDENT around on
Ebay the
other day, trying to find an
autographed copy of Tommy
Bowden “Coaching For Dummies,”
when I happened upon a gem of an
auction. Apparendy the University
of Iowa is getting a new
scoreboard/giant TV screen for its
football stadium next year and is
selling the old one on Ebay.
Seriously, it is a giant scoreboard
with a giant Sony instant replay
screen attached. It appears to be
about the same size as the one in
Williams-Brice — huginormous.
(The copy editors love it when I
make up words.)
Who needs this? The starting bid
is $10,000. That counts me out. Is
there any location other than a
football stadium that requires a
giant scoreboard and video screen?
It has a huge Iowa logo in the center,
so it isn’t like another school is
going to buy it and just pretend the
logo isn’t there. I can’t wait to see
Master P on MTV Cribs playing
PlayStation on the big screen. 1 can
just hear him now: “You ain’t a
playa ‘till you got a jumbo tron.”
Ebay is ridiculous.
Speaking of ridiculous, NASCAR
is soon going to start advertising hard
liquor, possibly even on the hoods of
the cars. Mike Helton, the president
of NASCAR, recently told The
Washington Post that racing fans
“view alcohol as part of everyday life
and no longer draw a distinction
between beer and distilled spirits.”
So let me get this straight:
NASCAR would rather it be called
the Nextel Cup than the Winston
Cup because Winston is a tobacco
company, but they will have no
problem with a Wild Turkey car
circling the track? If the people in
charge at NASCAR are trying to
shed this redneck backwoods image
of theirs, this is not the way to do it.
The more I think about it, the less
this makes sense. NASCAR, as far as I
know, is the only sport where it is
illegal to participate if you are under
the influence of alcohol—even if you
are of age. I’m pretty sure you won’t
get arrested if you’re bowling drunk,
but if you get behind the wheel of a
car going 117 miles per hour —
chances are somebody’s not finishing
the race. But still NASCAR wants to
be the only “sport,” and I use that
term loosely, to have hard liquor
companies as contributing sponsors.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying
to call the fine folks at NASCAR
stupid. Wait—yes. Yes, I am.
ght title
and final game in the fashion of a
team on an NCAA-record
conference winning streak.
Florida began with a 5-1 lead
and went on to a 30-18 win. USC
was able to pull within four at 13
17 but the Gators ran off eight
straight points to put the game
away. Senior Michelle Chatman had
four service aces in the run for the
Gators.
Errors played the biggest role in
the Gamecocks’ loss. USC had 28
attack errors, double the number of
Florida errors. USC never hit above
.100 during the match.