Georgia Bulldogs weekly sports roundup: soccer team loses season opener
Football isn’t the only team at the University of Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs women’s soccer, volleyball, tennis and cross country teams all play during the fall sports season.
August is here and that means that the fall sports season has begun. Football is the sport that most fans look forward to. But at the University of Georgia, four other teams compete in the fall. The first to begin action was the women’s soccer team, who opened their 2018 season with a 3-0 exhibition loss to Duke.
Lady Dawgs miss frame in loss to Duke
Despite matching Duke’s total number of shots on goal, the Georgia soccer team lost to no. 3 Duke in an exhibition game. The National Championship contending Blue Devils provided a great test for a team that lost four SEC games last year where they were tied in the 80th minute.
The team went winless in SEC play last year, the first time that’s happened in over 20 years. Georgia enters 2018 with an energetic young roster. There’s still a lot of experience, but head coach Billy Lesesne believes the 13 newcomers (11 freshmen, two graduate transfers) will provide valuable depth for the team.
"“Bringing in some new players, certainly we’ve got some players with some athletic qualities. I think we’ll be better suited for late-half, late-game situations… One of our goals is to win the first five and last five minutes of each half. We’ve identified that area and worked on that, and hopefully we won’t fatigue as much at the end of a half or the end of a game.”"
Delaney Erwin attempted three of Georgia’s nine shots and two of them were on goal. Sydney Shultis, Katie Higgins, Reagan Glisson, Keeley Cartrett and Ashley Anderson were the only other players to attempt a shot. Only Erwin, Glisson and Cartett could hit the frame.
Duke scored first, but only had a slim 1-0 lead for most of the match. They finally broke the game open with goals in the 71st and 88th minutes. Duke’s keeper outdid her scorers efforts with four saves throughout the contest.
Next. Georgia, Auburn and the College football Mecca of Atlanta. dark
The Georgia soccer team begins the regular season next weekend at Blacksburg, Virginia. On Friday, they play the defending Big East Champions Georgetown. And on Sunday, Georgia meets San Diego.