JU women's soccer releases 2010 schedule
Dolphins open season with five straight road games
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. June, 15 2010 The road to an Atlantic Sun Championship will be a challenging one for the Dolphins as the JU women’s soccer team released its 2010 schedule on Tuesday.
The Dolphins, who reached the A-Sun semifinals in 2009, will begin the season with five straight road games starting on Aug. 20.
JU begins its slate against Furman before taking on ACC power Clemson less than a day later in Clemson, S.C. on Aug. 22. The Dolphins will travel to Charleston, S.C. the following weekend to face the Citadel (Aug. 27) and Charleston Southern (Aug. 29). The road slate will come to an end against 2009 NCAA Tournament participant Florida on Sept. 3 in Gainesville, Fla.
“We are excited about our 2010 schedule,” said JU head coach Brian Copham. “We have three teams from the three of the top women’s soccer conferences in the country with Clemson (ACC), Florida (SEC) and USF (Big East) to help prepare us for conference play. While we will have a young team this fall, I think many of the returners gained valuable experience last year and will be ready for the challenges. We are excited to build off last season and look forward to a conference schedule that should again prove to be one of the most tightly contested for the regular season championship.”
Following the travel-heavy start the season, the Dolphins will get a chance to regroup with five consecutive home games at the Ashley Sports Complex starting on Sept. 5 with Winthrop.
The Dolphins will host USF (Sept. 5) before closing the non-conference schedule against Francis Marion on Sept. 10.
The 10-game A-Sun schedule begins on Sept. 17 against Florida Gulf Coast at the Ashley Sports Complex. JU wraps up its longest home stretch of the season with Stetson on Sept. 19.
After playing at Kennesaw State (Sept. 24) and Mercer (Sept. 26), the Dolphins return to the First Coast to host USC Upstate (Oct. 1) and East Tennessee State (Oct. 3).
JU travels to Nashville to play Belmont (Oct. 8) and Lipscomb (Oct. 10) before facing off against Campbell in the home finale on Oct. 14.
The Dolphins will face conference and cross-town rival UNF on Oct. 22 at Hodges Stadium to finish the regular season. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
For the second year in a row, the A-Sun Tournament will stretch into two weekends for the right to earn a berth to the NCAA College Cup. The first round is set for Oct. 29, while the semifinals, at the No. 1 seed’s home field, begin on Nov. 4. In 2009, the Dolphins reached the A-Sun semifinals for the fifth time in the last six seasons after producing an 8-7-5 record and 5-1-4 mark in conference play. Eva Leeper posted a team-best six goals to earn A-Sun “Co-Freshman of the Year” honors. Junior Devon Dowell along with sophomores Jessica Hurtado and Liz Fink each earned all-conference honors to help pace JU, while Lisa Hensley earned a spot on the all-freshman team.