By: by Jessica Steadman
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State soccer team opens up the 2009 season on Friday night when they travel to Athens, Ga. to take on the No. 18-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at the UGA Soccer Stadium in the first-ever meeting between the teams.
“We are looking forward to playing Georgia,” said Kennesaw State head coach Rob King. “They have a nationally recognized program and a terrific head coach in Pat Baker so we will have our work cut out for us. We hope that this will grow into an annual game and develop a rivalry between the programs.”
Even though the Owls fell, 2-0, in their exhibition game on Monday night, their season is already off to a great start, having landed three players on the Atlantic Sun Preseason All-Conference Team: Caitlin Dingle, Bridget Gaughan and Maylee Attin-Johnson, who has been selected the Preseason Player-of-the-Year.
For the fourth straight year, KSU has been picked by coaches throughout the league to win the regular season title and A-Sun tournament championship. Last year, the Owls finished second in the regular season before falling to Belmont in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The Owls return Attin-Johnson and Dingle to the lineup after the pair redshirted last season. Dingle, who was the A-Sun Preseason Player-of-the-Year last season, returns to Athens for the first time as she began her collegiate career with the Bulldogs.
“It’s really exciting to go back and play Georgia,” said Dingle on her return. “When we have played in the spring it has always been a good match and I expect that Friday’s game will be another hard fought battle.”
The Black and Gold will also look for impressive sophomore debuts from Katie Scott and Brittany Vining. The pair started in 19 games and each was selected to the A-Sun All-Freshmen team as they combined for five goals and 14 assists.
Red-shirt junior Staci Pugh will resume her starting position at goalkeeper. The Fayetteville, Ga. native had a career high 80 saves last season, allowing 21 goals and picking up three shutouts.
Kennesaw State is 5-2 all-time in season openers and has a 1-2-0 record against Southeastern Conference teams with their lone win coming two years ago in a 3-2 victory over Alabama. The Owls have split their last two openers, defeating Alabama A&M last season and falling to Mississippi State in the ’07 opener.
The No. 18 Bulldogs enter Friday’s match coming off an 11-11-1 season last year in which they played the second toughest schedule in the nation while earning their second-straight at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs is senior Carrie Patterson, who has been selected to the Preseason All-SEC Team for the second straight season. Patterson scored eight goals and five assists for the Bulldogs in 2008 and is one goal shy of owning the all-time scoring record in Georgia history.
Game-time is scheduled for Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the UGA Soccer Stadium in Athens, Ga. You can follow the game on live stats by visiting Georgia’s website at www.georgiabulldogs.com.
