USC Athletics The Week in Review / Preview

LAST WEEK
Sport                           Record   Conf.     Nat'l Rank             Last Week
Women's Cross Country            --       --     30th (Coaches)        none           
Football                        5-4      3-3                           def.  Stanford, 45-23
Men's Golf                                       12th (Golfweek)       7th at Rolex Match Play Championship     
Women's Golf                     --      --      20th (Rolex)          none
Women's Soccer                  16-3-1  7-2      25th (Soccer Buzz)    def. Washington State, 2-0; def. Washington, 4-1 
Women's Volleyball              19-4    11-4      7th (AVCA)           def. Oregon, 3-1; def. Oregon State, 3-0 
Men's Water Polo                15-5    4-3      2nd (AWPCA)           lost to Stanford, 8-6; def. Long Beach State, 8-4
 

Tuesday:
Men's Basketball, at New Mexico, 7:30 p.m. PST (FOX Sports Net)

Friday:
Women's Volleyball, vs. UCLA, North Gym, 7 p.m.

Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving, at Arizona, 2 p.m.

Saturday:
Women's Basketball, exhibition vs. Kilsyth, Lyon Center, 7 p.m.

Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving, at Arizona State, 11 a.m.

Men's Water Polo, at Pacific, Noon

Football, at Oregon State, 1 p.m.

Women's Cross Country, at District VIII Meet, at Arizona

Sunday:
Men's Water Polo, at Stanford, Noon

Men's Basketball, at Sacramento State, 2 p.m.

Football
USC posted its most convincing victory of 1997 to date - and stayed alive for postseason bowl consideration - with a 45-21 win over Stanford at the Coliseum on Saturday. The Trojans rolled up 511 total yards, including a season-high 309 on the ground. The Trojans were sparked by a pair of defensive players on offense: sophomore safety Chad Morton at tailback (seven carries for 109 yards) and junior cornerback Daylon McCutcheon at wide receiver (18-yard touchdown run on an end-around).

Senior tailback Delon Washington scored two touchdowns on 1-yard runs, junior wide receiver Billy Miller made a leaping grab of an 18-yard pass from freshman quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst for a score and sophomore wide receiver R. Jay Soward (career-best eight catches for 81 yards) scored two touchdowns, one on a 23-yard reverse and the other a 30-yard pass from sophomore quarterback John Fox.

Men's Golf
The Trojans placed seventh at the Rolex National Intercollegiate Match Play Team Championships in Florida last weekend. USC defeated Pepperdine in the seventh-place match but lost previously to UNLV and Wake Forest. Sophomore Mike Berg and junior Charlie Woerner each won two of their three individual matches.

Women's Soccer
After defeating Washington State, 2-0, and Washington, 4-1, to wrap up the regular season with a school-record 16-3-1 mark, the Women of Troy will find out on Tuesday afternoon if they will be awarded a first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Junior forward Courtney Barham scored three goals and had an assist in the win over the Huskies and became USC's all-time leading scorer with 69 points. Sophomore midfielder Kim Clark had a goal and an assist. Against the Cougars, freshman forward Megan Orach and junior midfielder Erica De Vitis scored goals.

Women's Volleyball
USC defeated Oregon and Oregon State at the North Gym last weekend, beating the Ducks, 12-15, 15-10, 15-5, 15-4, and the Beavers, 15-2, 15-3, 15-7.

Against the Ducks, USC had four players reach double figures in kills, led by junior middle blocker Jasmina Marinkovic,s 16. The match against the Beavers was one-sided, as Marinkovic had 14 kills in 19 attacks without an error, good for a hitting percentage of .737, the third-highest percentage in USC history.

Men's Water Polo
USC split two MPSF games at home last weekend, falling to No. 3 Stanford, 8-6, but coming back to beat No. 9 Long Beach State, 8-4. Senior driver Mateo Juric and junior driver Marko Pintaric each had two goals against the Cardinal, while Juric had four points against the 49ers.

Athletes of the Week
Courtney Barham, Women's Soccer
Barham, a junior forward, had three goals and an assist against Washington to become USC's all-time leading point scorer. She now has 69 points and leads USC in goals in 1997 with 14.

Jasmina Marinkovic, Women's Volleyball
Marinkovic, a sophomore middle blocker, had 30 kills and three errors in 48 attempts for a .563 hitting percentage in wins against the Oregon schools last weekend. She leads the Pac-10 in hitting percentage (.423).

Chad Morton, Football
Morton, a sophomore safety and occasional tailback, ran for 109 yards on just seven carries to spark the Trojans. He went 69 yards on his first run of the game.