JU women's soccer announces 2008 schedule

Dolphins open season at home against College of Charleston on Aug. 22

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. July 22, 2008 The 2008 JU women's soccer team will boast one of its most experienced squads when it takes the field for the season opener against College of Charleston on Aug. 22, as the Dolphins announce their 2008 schedule on Tuesday.

The Dolphins will have seven seniors and six juniors when they hit the field to take on the Cougars at the Ashley Sports Complex with kick off at 7 p.m.

These 13 players are just a season removed from winning the 2006 Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship, which will help with the transition for first-year head
 coach Brian Copham.

"I am excited about the schedule for this fall," said Copham. "We have some good out of region teams coming to play here as well as a demanding group of teams from the Southeast to prepare us for our conference schedule. As far as conference goes, there were five teams one game apart last season so this means that every game is important and everyone will be battling for points. We have to make sure we are prepared for every game to give ourselves a chance to compete and have the opportunity to play in the post season. I am looking forward to having the team return and starting preseason."

JU's first part of the schedule sees the Dolphins heading to Flagler (Aug. 24) and back home to host Duquesne (Aug. 29) before playing a neutral site game in Tallahassee, Fla. against West Florida (Sept. 7).

The Dolphins compete in the first of their two scheduled tournaments when they host Fairfield and UNC-Asheville for the JU Invitational on Sept. 12 and Sept. 14. They hit the road the following weekend to play Mississippi Valley State (Sept. 19) and Tennessee Chattanooga (Sept. 21) at the University of Alabama Tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

JU's 10-game home schedule begins at home with East Tennessee State on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. They finish the weekend with USC Upstate at the Ashley Sports Complex on Sept. 28.

Five of the Dolphins' eight games are on the road in October starting with a three-game stretch of defending A-Sun champion Kennesaw State (Oct. 3), Mercer (Oct. 5) and Stetson (Oct. 10).

JU hosts Florida Gulf Coast on Oct. 12 and Campbell on Oct. 16 before heading to the music city of Nashville to face Lipscomb and Belmont starting on Oct. 26.

The Dolphins finish the slate by welcoming cross- town rival North Florida to the Ashley Sports Complex on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. JU is looking exact some revenge after falling last season, 2-1, against the Ospreys.

The 2008 A-Sun championship is once again hosted in Kennesaw, Ga. beginning on Nov. 5.

The Dolphins reached the A-Sun tournament for the fourth consecutive year in 2007, despite have one of the youngest teams in conference. Kerri Zwikker, who is returning for her senior season, became the second leading scorer in school history (40) and earned her third consecutive first team all-conference selection to pace JU.