College of Charleston Women's Soccer Team set to Open Season at South Carolina
8/26/2009 5:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's soccer team will open their 2009 regular season on Thursday, Aug. 27 at South Carolina at 7 p.m. The matchup between the school's is the first since 2002, when the Gamecocks took a 3-1 decision from the Cougars in Columbia.
"Back in 2001, my first match at CofC was against South Carolina, so to have them back on the schedule is an exciting thing," said head coach Kevin Dempsey. "They are a very talented and athletic team that has good size all over the field and has good goal keeping. It will definitely be a challenge for us starting the season."
CofC comes into their 2009 campaign returning 17 letterwinners and eight starters from a team that a season ago went 12-5-4 and raced out to the best start in program history at 7-0. The Cougars also welcome 12 newcomers onto the team this season.
"We came into preseason fit and getting this game with South Carolina to start the season put a little more emphasis on preparation in the summer," said Dempsey, who enters his ninth season as CofC head coach. "The girls have done a great job and we are at the point where were ready to play a game,
"Our seniors have done a great job of bringing in the 12 freshman and acclimating them to the program. There already a pretty tight nit group, which is important."
South Carolina comes into their 2009 season returning 22 letterwinners and 10 starters from a 2008 team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks played in an exhibition match with the Mexican National Team on Aug. 21st and won 2-0. South Carolina leads the all-time series over the Cougars at 3-1-2.
The match at South Carolina begins a seven-match road swing for the Cougars to start their 2009 season, as CofC will not play their first home match at Patriots Point stadium until Sept. 16.
"The schedule is very difficult and there's not one opponent on the schedule where we can just show up and win," said Dempsey. "I know it sounds cliche, but we have to take things one game at a time,
"It's not the worst thing sometimes to be on the road, you can get focused and you're away from campus. I know the girls will rise to the occasion, as they've been on the road before and faced some challenges."
