Sept. 22, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – After five regular season contests at Stone Stadium, South Carolina women’s soccer leads the nation in attendance, averaging 3,761 per match. The program has also sold a record 615 season tickets for 2014.

The South Carolina students have been extremely supportive, with over 12,000 coming through the gates for this season’s five matches. An all-time high of 4,554 attended the Clemson match, a number that would have set the single-game attendance record alone.

Another integral part of this season’s success is the generous support of season ticket holders who have answered the program’s challenge to sell more season tickets than they ever had before. The 615 season tickets is a 400% increase from 2013.

“To lead the nation in attendance is incredible as we’ve been working hard to build a home field advantage since we got to South Carolina. It’s great to see the results,” South Carolina head coach Shelley Smith said. “Our students, season ticket holders and all of our fans have been tremendous in creating an atmosphere like no other which helps pull us through in tight games. I hope that everyone continues to be supportive for the rest of the year and into the coming seasons.”

The Gamecocks (8-1-0, 1-0-0 SEC) return to The Graveyard this Friday to open the home SEC slate against Missouri at 6 p.m. Friday’s contest is the first half of a doubleheader with the men’s soccer team taking on Marshall just after. On Sunday, South Carolina welcomes Georgia at 1 p.m.

It’s not too late to purchase your joint men’s and women’s season soccer ticket and to receive a limited edition Gamecock soccer scarf. For more info click here.

NOTABLES

• Prior to this season, Stone Stadium had never hosted a crowd of over 5,000 for a women’s soccer match. This year, the Gamecocks have played in front of a program-record 5,855 in a contest against Clemson on Sept. 5 and 5,415 for then-No. 22 Boston University on Aug. 29.
• All five of the Gamecocks’ 2014 home matches rank in the program’s all-time top 12 crowds.
• Already, 18,804 fans have come through the gates at The Graveyard, a number that eclipses all but one yearly attendance total (20,615 for 11 matches in 2010).
• Never before had South Carolina hosted back-to-back crowds of over 2,500, but have done so twice this year.
• Just four Division I programs average over 3,000 at their home matches – South Carolina, North Carolina, Portland and Texas A&M.
• By averaging 3,761 this season, the Gamecocks have increased their per-match attendance by over 2,300 after posting an average of 1,363 per match in 2013.

• TOP 12 CROWDS AT STONE STADIUM
  1. Clemson – 5,855 (9/5/14), 0-1, L
  2. #22 Boston U. – 5,415 (8/29/14), 1-0 (2OT), W
  3. #14 Wake Forest – 4,347 (11/20/09), 0-1,L
  4. Davidson – 3,813 (11/13/09), 4-0, W
  5. Clemson – 3,017 (9/10/10), 2-0, W
  6. High Point – 2,869 (9/7/14), 2-0,W
  7. Clemson – 2,823 (9/15/06), 1-0,W
  8. #12 Rutgers – 2,724(11/15/09), 1-0, W
  9. Samford – 2,668 (8/24/14), 2-0, W
  10. #8 Florida – 2,548 (10/29/10), 0-1, L
  11. Milwaukee – 1,997 (8/31/14), 2-0, W
  12. #18 Clemson – 1,863(9/11/02), 0-1, L

  NCAA DIVISION I ATTENDANCE
  No. Institution – Accum. Attend.- Gms – Avg. Attend.
  1. South Carolina -18,804- 5 – 3,761
  2. North Carolina – 6,931 – 2 – 3,466
  3. Portland – 9,507 – 3 – 3,169
  4. Texas A&M – 21,139 – 7 – 3,020
  5. Louisville -14,428 – 5 – 2,886