Soccer: UGA Wins Exhibition vs. Duke
In the first exhibition match of the 2022 season, the University of Georgia soccer team made a statement with a 2-1 victory over No. 2 Duke Monday evening at Turner Soccer Stadium.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said head coach Keidane McAlpine following the match. “It’s been a long eight months. It’s fun to finally get out there and play somebody else. The spring is nice, but to have the feel of the fall, the new beginnings, getting our new players in—it’s really exciting. And the energy and the effort from the fans. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. This is far from the best game we’ve played, but this is a good place to start.”
Monday’s match was played with three 30-minutes periods, with the Bulldogs posting two goals in five minutes during the second period. In the 48th minute, sophomore Ellie Gilbert knocked in a header off a corner kick by graduate Abby Boyan to give Georgia the lead. Four minutes later, Boyan took advantage of a Duke yellow card in the box to convert a penalty kick for a 2-0 lead.
“It was great,” said Gilbert. “Honestly, the ball coming at me was perfect, and our team as a whole played awesome. I was really happy I could chip in with the goal, but again, it was a team effort. I’m really happy about that.”
In the first period, the Blue Devils nearly opened the scoring, but sophomore goalkeeper Liz Beardsley made a diving double save to keep them off the board. Beardsley played nearly the entirety of the first two periods before being relieved by junior Lauren Swoopes and, later, freshman Jordan Brown.
“I wanted to keep it out of the net—that’s always the goal for me,” said Beardsley. “The first save didn’t quite go out of bounds like I wanted it to, so I had to scramble back across the goal to deal with what was given.”
Duke eventually cut the deficit in the 82nd minute with a goal from graduate Mackenzie Pluck off an assist from senior Julia Burnell. The Blue Devils made one last charge in the final moments, but the Bulldog defense held firm and preserved the victory.
Georgia continues its exhibition season against Furman on Saturday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. at Turner Soccer Complex. Admission is free for all fans. The match will not be streamed.
UGA Announces 2022-23 Men’s Tennis Schedule
Five fall tournaments, eight home matches, and contests against USC, Stanford, Florida State and Texas, highlight the Georgia men’s tennis team’s 2022-23 schedule, it was announced Monday.
The Bulldogs begin the season with the 55th Southern Intercollegiate Championships, which take place Sept. 16-18 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The annual tradition has been held in Athens each year since 1968 and is one of the greatest and longest-running fall tournaments in college tennis history.
Following the SICs, Georgia will compete in four additional fall events, concluding with the ITA Fall Nationals and Georgia Tech Invitational in November.
Georgia will begin 2023 at the Miami Invitational from Jan. 6-8, before road trips to Florida State and Texas. The Bulldogs host LSU, Miami and Louisville for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Jan. 29-30.
Then, three of the winningest programs in tennis history will square off in Lake Nona, Fla., as Georgia, Stanford and USC compete in a three-team event on Feb. 4-5.
The indoor portion of the schedule wraps up with trips to Georgia Tech (Feb. 12), Illinois (in Chicago on Feb. 15) and the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago on Feb. 17-20.
Georgia’s 12-match Southeastern Conference slate features home contests against Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Ole Miss as well as road matchups at Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida.
This year’s SEC Tournament will take place April 20-23 in Auburn, Ala., followed by the NCAA first and second rounds, super regionals and finals in May.
The Bulldogs return four seniors in Trent Bryde, Philip Henning, Blake Croyder and Britton Johnston and will have a bevy of newcomers. Redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn, now ranked No. 509 on the ATP World Tour, had an impressive summer that saw him knock off four players ranked in the top-10 of last season’s final ITA rankings. Joining Quinn will be Arizona State transfer Filipe Costa and Clemson graduate transfer Teodor Giusca.
2021 Football Photo Replay – Athens’ Championship Celebration
Jump To Comments