University of Tennessee Athletics
DEFENDING SEC TOURNEY CHAMPION LADY VOLS RELEASE 2003 SOCCER SCHEDULE
May 20, 2003 | Soccer
May 20, 2003
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
After directing the Lady Vol soccer team to its initial Southeastern Conference Tournament title, its first Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Women's College Cup and its first-ever Top 10 finish last fall, Head Coach Angela Kelly announced her club's 2003 slate on Tuesday. Tennessee will meet eight programs that reached last year's NCAA Tournament, including five teams that finished in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll: No. 12 West Virginia, No. 16 Richmond, No. 23 Brigham Young, No. 24 Maryland and No. 25 Charlotte.
The Orange and White return 18 letterwinners and seven starters from a squad that was 18-6-1 overall and 6-2-1 in league play en route to its first Eastern Division crown. Kelly and her staff, comprised of assistant coaches Samantha Baggett and Scott Blount, will welcome another highly-touted recruiting class of eight newcomers into the fold. UT returns four All-SEC performers: All-American defender Keeley Dowling (Carmel, Ind.), midfielder Kayla Lockaby (Hamilton, Ohio), midfielder Lyndsey Patterson (Puyallup, Wash.) and forward Rhian Wilkinson (Baie d'Urfe, Quebec), who recently saw action with the Canadian National Team.
Tennessee will kick off its eighth season of competition at home for the first time since 1998 when UC Santa Barbara visits the UT Soccer Complex on Aug. 29. Following their inaugural meeting with the Gauchos, who were the runner-up in the Big West Conference last fall, the Orange will welcome Fresno State of the Western Athletic Conference two days later.
"Starting with our opening weekend, we are looking at what I consider to be one of our toughest schedules," said Kelly. "It will be exciting for our fans and players to open at home, as everyone will be ready and raring to go. Looking through our opponents, there are a lot of intriguing matchups for us - from Brigham Young and UNLV on one road trip to William & Mary and Maryland in College Park two weeks later."
"I personally feel that we are a member of one of the strongest women's soccer conferences in the country. Every school is raising the bar and is committed to winning. We start with our first two league weekends at home and then end with a very difficult stretch of five straight road contests so we definitely have our work cut out for us."
"We are excited about the challenges that lie before us. Assuming our girls following our summer conditioning program and commit themselves to being fit, we should be dealing with a very eager club during the preseason."
The Big Orange will journey to face Mountain West Conference champion Brigham Young in Provo on Sept. 5, before heading to "Sin City" for a meeting with UNLV on Sept. 7. The following weekend, Kelly and her squad will welcome three fellow NCAA participants into Knoxville for the First Tennessee Lady Vol Classic over Sept. 12-14. The University of Denver will meet Charlotte to begin the tourney on Sept. 12, with the hosts taking on Richmond in the nightcap. The Spiders captured the Atlantic-10 Conference and won a pair of NCAA matches before falling to eventual national champion Portland in the round of 16. Two days later, Denver and Richmond will tangle before Tennessee wraps up the event against the reigning Conference USA champion 49ers, which hosted the first two rounds of NCAA play after going unbeaten during the regular season.
Tennessee will travel into Atlantic Coast Conference country in mid-September for the University of Maryland Adidas Classic on Sept. 19 and 21, where it will face first-time foes William & Mary as well as the home-standing Terrapins. UM succumbed to Final Four participant Penn State in the second round of NCAAs, while the Tribe was defeated by Wake Forest in the opening contest of the Big Dance. West Virginia, the 2002 BIG EAST Mid-Atlantic Division winner that compiled an 18-3-1 overall mark, will make its first foray to Rocky Top on Sept. 28 for a matinee affair.
Mississippi State and Ole Miss will roll into Knoxville over Oct. 3-5 to begin the nine-match Southeastern Conference schedule. UT held off the Bulldogs and Rebels by identical 2-1 margins last season and UM will be looking to continue the momentum generated by its first NCAA appearance. Eastern Division brethren Florida and South Carolina come calling the following weekend, Oct. 10 and 12, respectively. The Lady Vols and Gators went to overtime both times they saw one another last year, with UF taking the regular-season tilt in Gainesville and UT ending Florida's six-year stranglehold on the SEC Tournament hardware on a Golden Goal in the league's championship match. Nothing was settled between the Gamecocks and Lady Vols after 110 minutes of play in Columbia last October.
Soon after, the team embarks on an extended road trip with stops in Fayetteville, Ark., Baton Rouge, La., Nashville, Lexington, Ky., and Athens, Ga. Tennessee will head into enemy territory against West rivals Arkansas and LSU over Oct. 17-19, before divisional counterparts Vanderbilt and Kentucky lay out the welcome mats on Oct. 24 and 26, respectively. While the Orange did not face either the Lady'Backs or Tigers as part of the rotating schedule in '02, it seeks to avenge a 1-0 defeat suffered at the hands of the Commodores, which was its only loss in 10 home matches last year. UK will have revenge on its mind as well, as it endured a 2-0 regular-season defeat and a 1-0 overtime setback to the Orange at the SEC Tournament.
Tennessee will conclude its regular season against Georgia on Oct. 31 at the Georgia Soccer Stadium. The Lady Vols edged the Dawgs in overtime, 2-1, to clinch the East and then eliminated the Red and Black from SECs on a goal by defender Marie-Eve Nault (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec), 1-0. Soon after, Kelly's troops will prepare for the 2003 SEC Tournament to be contested from Nov. 6-9 in Orange Beach, Ala.
2003 TENNESSEE LADY VOL SOCCER SCHEDULE
| DATE | DAY | OPPONENT | SITE | TIME | |||
| Aug. 29 | Fri. | UC SANTA BARBARA | KNOXVILLE | 7 p.m. | |||
| Aug. 31 | Sun. | FRESNO STATE | KNOXVILLE | 2 p.m. | |||
| Sept. 5 | Fri. | Brigham Young | Provo, Utah | 7 p.m. MT | |||
| Sept. 7 | Sun. | UNLV | Las Vegas, Nev. | 2 p.m. PT | |||
| FIRST TENNESSEE LADY VOL CLASSIC | |||||||
| Sept. 12 | Fri. | Denver vs. Charlotte | KNOXVILLE | 5:30 p.m. | |||
| RICHMOND | KNOXVILLE | 8 p.m. | |||||
| Sept. 14 | Sun. | Denver vs. Richmond | KNOXVILLE | Noon | |||
| CHARLOTTE | KNOXVILLE | 2 p.m. | |||||
| MARYLAND ADIDAS CLASSIC | |||||||
| Sept. 19 | Fri. | Tennessee vs. William & Mary | College Park, Md. | 5 p.m. | |||
| Loyola (Md.) vs. Maryland | College Park, Md. | 7:30 p.m. | |||||
| Sept. 21 | Sun. | Loyola (Md.) vs. William & Mary | College Park, Md. | Noon | |||
| Tennessee vs. Maryland | College Park, Md. | 2:30 p.m. | |||||
| Sept. 28 | Sun. | WEST VIRGINIA | KNOXVILLE | 2 p.m. | |||
| Oct. 3 | Fri. | MISSISSIPPI STATE* | KNOXVILLE | 7 p.m. | |||
| Oct. 5 | Sun. | MISSISSIPPI* | KNOXVILLE | 2 p.m. | |||
| Oct. 10 | Fri. | FLORIDA* | KNOXVILLE | 7 p.m. | |||
| Oct. 12 | Sun. | SOUTH CAROLINA* | KNOXVILLE | 2 p.m. | |||
| Oct. 17 | Fri. | Arkansas* | Fayetteville, Ark. | 7 p.m. CT | |||
| Oct. 19 | Sun. | LSU* | Baton Rouge, La. | 2 p.m. CT | |||
| Oct. 24 | Fri. | Vanderbilt* | Nashville, Tenn. | 7 p.m. CT | |||
| Oct. 26 | Sun. | Kentucky* | Lexington, Ky. | 2 p.m. | |||
| Oct. 31 | Fri. | Georgia* | Athens, Ga. | 7 p.m. | |||
| Nov. 6-9 | Thu.-Sun. | SEC Tournament | Orange Beach, Ala. | TBA CT | |||
| Nov. 14/16 | Fri./Sun. | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Campus Sites | TBA | |||
| Nov. 21-23 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Third Round | Campus Sites | TBA | |||
| Nov. 28-30 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Quarterfinals | Campus Sites | TBA | |||
| Dec. 5/7 | Fri./Sun. | NCAA Women's College Cup | Cary, N.C. | TBA | |||
*Denotes Southeastern Conference matches
