May 1, 2012
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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director
2012 Schedule (Web Format)
2012 Schedule (Printable Format)
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s soccer coach Shelley Smith has announced a 19-match 2012 schedule that features nine matches against NCAA Tournament teams and includes 11 matches at Stone Stadium, including a Saturday night matinee against rival Clemson on September 1.
“We will be home a bit more this fall, which will be a welcome change from 2011,” Smith said of the schedule. “Of course we are always excited to be hosting our rival Clemson this year. The players love to perform at home in front of the tremendous fan support we get at Stone Stadium, especially when Clemson comes to town. With football away that weekend, the fans in Columbia still have a great venue to come to to get out and support the Gamecocks on a Saturday night!”
Coach Smith’s squad will open the campaign with an exhibition match for the first time since the 2005 season when Duke visits “The Graveyard” on Friday, August 10 for a 7 p.m. match. The Gamecocks will hit the road one week later for the official season opener with a weekend trip to Milwaukee (August 17) and Minnesota (August 19). The opener against the Panthers will match be a matchup of two NCAA Second Round participants last season in what will be the first meeting between the two teams.
“We start the season with the challenge of a road trip to two places we have never been,” Smith said. “Facing two strong teams on the road should help us prepare for some of our tough trips later on in conference play. That is what you want to get from your nonconference schedule.”
The 2012 home opener is scheduled for Thursday, August 23 at 7 p.m. against the Mercer Bears. The meeting against Mercer starts a four-match homestand that concludes the non-conference schedule with Jacksonville (August 26), Clemson (September 1) and East Carolina (September 9) all visiting Stone Stadium before the Gamecocks begin SEC play. The rivalry match against the Tigers marks just the third time that the two teams will meet in a Saturday special, the last such occurrence being the 1997 season. The fixture will kickoff at 7 p.m. under the lights at “The Graveyard”.
As previously released, the SEC schedule has been increased to 13 matches with the additions of Missouri and Texas A&M to the league. The Gamecocks will host seven matches SEC matches for the first time with the impressive slate of Mississippi State (9/14), Missouri (9/16), Tennessee (10/5), Georgia (10/6), LSU (10/12), Ole Miss (10/14) and Florida (10/25) all visiting Stone Stadium. South Carolina will travel to Texas A&M (9/21), Arkansas (9/23), Auburn (9/28), Vanderbilt (9/30), Kentucky (10/19) and Alabama (10/21) for a road schedule heavy with four western division teams.
“The conference season will be a challenge this fall,” Smith said. “A new combination of teams than in the past as well as the addition of two new quality teams. We look forward to the competition and seeing how it all plays out.”
The SEC Tournament expands this season from eight teams to 10 teams and will run from Monday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex in Orange Beach, Ala.
The Gamecocks won the 2011 SEC regular season and eastern division titles with a 9-2-0 record and moved to the NCAA Second Round for the third consecutive year – one of only two SEC programs to do so in that span. With a 16-7-0 record, Smith’s squad won its second piece of conference hardware in the past three years en route to her being named the NSCAA South Region Coach of the Year. Carolina lost nine letterwinners from last year’s team and will welcome nine newcomers in 2012. The Gamecocks return six starters from last year’s squad including Freshman All-American, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year Sabrina D’Angelo.
