Sports Monday Demon Deacon D' Knocks Out Tar Heels By Evan Markfield Assistant Sports Editor In its previous nine meetings with Wake Forest, the North Carolina foot ball team averaged more than 36 points, winning every one of those contests. Both of those streaks came crashing to an abrupt halt Saturday as the Demon Deacons beat the punchless Tar Heels 19-3 in front of 40,000 at Kenan Stadium. j F00&4& Wake Forest . .19 UNC 3 “They laid it on the line and they won,” UNC tackle Allen Mogridge said. “You beat a team for nine straight years, and they’re going to be frustrated.” By the time the game was over, the Deacs had been freed of their frustra tions, while the North Carolina offense was only burdened with more. Wake’s defense, which came into the game ranked second in the ACC, held UNC to 131 yards of total offense, the team’s second-lowest output this season. The Tar Heels’ only points came off a Josh McGee field goal in the second quarter, but calling it a scoring drive would be grossly overstating the fact. The series leading to McGee’s 48-yarder was indicative of UNC’s overall perfor mance on offense, with the sole excep tion that they managed to put points on the board at the end of it. After starting off at the Wake Forest 38, the Tar Heels “drove” seven yards on six plays to set up the score. The rest Peppers Adds Spice to Struggling North Carolina Defense By Hugh Pressley Senior Writer For the past two months the North Carolina football team has been waiting for someone on defense to take over the team’s tackling-utensil role, which, before a season-ending biceps injury, was held by senior linebacker Brandon Spoon. But the Tar Heels didn’t have safety Billy-Dee Greenwood (who leads the team with 102 total tackles) in mind. They thought their new defensive stop sr would be someone like 6-foot-6,280- pound defensive end Julius Peppers, a muscular redshirt freshman who has even more power than his middle name, Frazier (ala Joe), suggests. After eight games of playing more like Frasier Crane, Peppers finally reached his Gamecock Goal Run Dooms Men's Soccer North Carolina had its five-game unbeaten streak snapped thanks to three second-half goals by USC. By Matt Terry Staff Writer The North Carolina men’s soccer team was supposed to be celebrating senior night during its final home game of the season Saturday night at Fetzer Field. Unfortunately for the No. 15 Tar Heels, it wasn’t quite the party that they had planned. Three second-half goals in a 14-minute span spoiled the festivities and gave South Carolina a 3-2 win, end- Men’s Soccer USC 3 UNC 2 ing UNC’s unbeaten streak at five games. The Tar Heels (11-5-1) seemed more than happy to hand out party favors to the Gamecocks (10-6-2). The defense allowed open chances to USC’s John Harr, David Testo, and Ryan O’Neill, each of whom converted. “No one is happy,” Tar Heel coach Elmar Bolowich said. “But it is oiu own fault. We gave them the tools to knock us over the head.” A errant pass by UNC midfielder Michael Bucy led to Harr’s goal in the 52nd minute. Just five minutes later, Testo was allowed to dance through the Tar Heel defense for the second Gamecock goal. A 1-0 halftime lead for UNC turned into a 3-1 deficit with 25 minutes left. The UNC backline was thin with of UNC’s offensive efforts yielded sim ilarly dismal results. The Tar Heels never got the ball inside the Demon Deacon 30-yard line, limiting them, for the second consecu tive week, to just a field goal. UNC has scored only one touchdown in its last 14 quarters of play. “It’s inconsistency,” said UNC tight end Alge Crumpler, who caught five passes for 57 yards. “Our chemistry has not been there. We’ve got to be able to put two and two together in order to get into the end zone.” The Deacs sacked UNC quarterback Luke Huard five times and had pressure on him for most of the game. Huard played all but two series and finished 11 of 30 for 101 yards. When the redshirt freshman wasn’t facing tremendous heat from the Wake defensive front - which wasn’t often - he didn’t help the UNC offense’s cause by throwing several incompletions when he had a wide-open receiver. “It’s another one of those games where we weren’t able to execute like we’d like to,” Huard said. “It comes down to making the key plays on key downs. When we’re in a situation to make a play, we’re not exactly making them.” Things weren’t much better for the Tar Heels on the ground. In fact, they were significantly worse. The UNC backs had 29 carries for 12 net yards, a stat that was hurt by the fact that the Deacs’ five sacks amounted to minus-35 See FOOTBALL, Page 7 x -j cr/ potential against Wake Forest on Saturday. He sacked WFU quar terback Ben Sankey four times, and more impor tantly, helped the Tar Heels hold Deacons running back Morgan Kane (28 carries, 71 yards) in check. Sure UNC lost yet again, but the 19 points and 125 rushing yards it UNC defensive end Julius Peppers sacked Wake Forest quarterback Ben Sankey four times in Saturday's game. gave up were the fewest the team has sur rendered in a game this season, thanks in large part to Peppers’ spicy play. flfpskjjii r ' ** defenders Matt Laycock and Jon Wean out with injuries. Also, defender David Popp left the game in the second half with a concussion. “That’s not an excuse to play like that,” Bolowich said. “We were deep (at defense) to begin with.” With 15 min utes left, senior co captain Joey UNC senior Joey DiSalvo scored his second goal of the season in the Tar Heels' loss to South Carolina. DiSalvo scored his second goal of the season, catching USC keeper Henry Ring off his line with a 28-yard chip. W'ith nine minutes left, forwards Chris Carrieri and Caleb Norkus orchestrate a nifty give-and-go which saw Carrieri’s finish smack the face of the crossbar. Carrieri’s 20-yard despera tion shot with less than five seconds remaining trickled wide. “That basically sums up our season so far,” DiSalvo said. “We’re getting our shots, we’re getting a lot of opportuni ties, but when it comes down to it, they’re not going in.” The Tar Heels controlled the pace of the game from the opening whistle. Carrieri scored his 12th goal in the 14th minute, but the team misfired on sever al chances to increase the lead. “Avery good team plays poorly and wins a game like that,” Bolowich said. “We are not there yet.” The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu. BESSsL. 11 it mttm ■ ■ JS wl i DTH/CARA BRICKMAN North Carolina tailback Rufus Brown gets stuffed by two Wake defenders in the Deacs’ 19-3 win Saturday. Brown rushed for 16 yards on 13 carries in the game, and UNC had only 12 net yards on the ground. “I’m learning,” said Peppers, who had seven total tackles against Wake. “I think I’ve learned a lot since the first game. The first game I really didn’t have much experience, and I wasn’t really sure I was supposed to be on the field at the time. But now I think Pm growing and learning the defense, and I think I’m coming along pretty good.” Peppers, who has a team-leading six sacks and 10 tackles for loss for the sea son, kept the Deacs on their heels all game. After a first-quarter Sankey sack led to a Deacons punt, Peppers kept Wake from scoring again right before the half, blocking a 56-yard field goal attempt by Tyler Ashe to keep the score 10-3. With the game still within reach early in the fourth quarter, Peppers had two sacks on By Brian Murphy Sports Editor Erica Roberson had never been to a soccer game before. The seven-year old began her soccer career just months ear lier. But Roberson already knew who her sports hero was. When North Carolina’s public address announcer announced Mia Hamm as the Tar Heels’ assistant coach, Roberson turned to her father and said, “My idol is on the other side.” Her father, Ed, smiled, and the Roberson family watched the Tar Heels top Clemson in Friday’s ACC Tournament semifi nal. Following the game Roberson and dozens of other small girls lined the Mia Hamm 4} A j yatl heel legends I fence at Fetzer Field clamoring for Hamm to autograph their program or shirt or just shake their hands. The reception is not unusual for Hamm, who is recognized as the world’s best women’s soccer player. It was Hamm and her U.S. National Team team mates who captured the hearts of America -and millions of Erica Robersons - on their way to capturing the 1999 Women’s World Cup this sum mer. “You go out there and do something that you love to do, and you invest as much as we do into it and to see all these people get excited about what you’re doing,” Hamm said. “It’s an overwhelm two consecutive downs to force another punt - this time on Wake’s own 20 yard line. If it weren’t for a roughing-the-kick er penalty against the Tar Heels, the team would have had a good chance of erasing its 13-3 deficit. Instead the Deacs kept that drive alive and scored three more points, all but negating Peppers’ individual efforts. ”We’re certainly glad we could get out of this with a win, particularly with the problems (Peppers) created for us,” Wake coach Jim Caldwell said. “He’s just an outstanding player. He really got up the field on us and did a tremendous job.” What’s scary about Peppers - besides his Herculean strength, deceptive quick ness and discombobulating reach - is Model of Excellence ing feeling.” Overwhelming is a good way to describe Hamm’s performance on the field. During her career at North Carolina, Hamm set a since-broken NCAA record with 103 goals, leading the nation in scoring three times. Hamm and the Tar Heels won four national champi onships. And since moving to the national The DTH polled UNC athletics experts to determine the 10 greatest athletes in Tar Heel history. Join us every Monday on the road to No. 1. college and with the national team. “There’s a huge pressure in this sport on goal scorers because it’s such a difficult thing to do, and that pressure never got to Mia.” Hamm has not let the pressure of being her game’s most celebrated figure get to her either. She handles the fame, endorsements and commercials as easy as she handles opposing defenders. “I don’t look at those as burdens,” Hamm said. “I look at those as incredible opportunities that people want to hear what you’re all about, want to hear your story, want to be a part of what you feel See HAMM, Page 8 that he is only a freshman; he is only going to get better. What’s intriguing about him is that, despite his team’s 1-8 slump, he is still having fun. “I’m going to have fun; that’s what I’m out there to do,” said Peppers, who added that he was still not sure whether he’ll tryout for the basketball team come season’s end. “When you play hard you have fun, and good things happen. It’s kind of hard to have fun when you lose week in and week out, but I’m a happy person, so I guess that helps me. I don’t worry about stuff too much.” Maybe the rest of the team should fol low Peppers’ lead. The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu. > *•>'&** - :1* n