The Wildcats return eight starters from last year's squad and will be lead by six seniors.
Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com
12 Home Dates Highlight Davidson W. Soccer 2011 Schedule
6/20/2011 12:05:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson women's soccer team will get the luxury of playing in front of its fans at Alumni Stadium a little more often in 2011 as the Wildcats will host 12 of their 19 opponents on their home field as announced by eighth-year head coach Greg Ashton with the release of the 2011 schedule.
The 2011 campaign starts out with five straight non-conference home games, including two of which will be the 'Cats first meetings in program history against Providence College and Florida Gulf Coast. In addition, Davidson will play at the Navy Tournament, the third time its played in the tournament, host cross-county rival Charlotte and play its usual 11-game slate in the Southern Conference.
Davidson had an up and down year in 2010, but there were still plenty of successful accomplishments as the team reached the SoCon Tournament for the seventh straight year. The Wildcats registered eight shutouts (third-best in SoCon) on their way to a 6-8-6 mark (2-4-5 SoCon), setting a new school mark for ties in a campaign, and placed a pair players on the All-SoCon Second Team.
The 'Cats return 18 letterwinners from last year's squad, including eight of whom were starters, while they welcome 11 first-year players.
Davidson took full advantage of its home field in 2010 and hope to do the same this coming season. The Wildcats finished unbeaten last year at home (5-0-3) for the first time in program history and pushed its home unbeaten streak to a school-best 12 games dating back to the end of the 2009 campaign. During the last six years, the Wildcats have sported a 36-11-7 record at Alumni Stadium.
The 'Cats will look to continue their home field dominance when they play their season and home-opener vs. Big South-foe UNC Asheville, Aug. 20. The two teams last met in 2004. Davidson holds an 8-4 advantage in the series and has won three of the last four meetings.
Providence and Florida Gulf Coast visit Davidson for the first time over the weekend of Aug. 26-28. The 'Cats and Friars were to play in 2008, but weather forced the cancelation of the game.
Rounding out the five-game homestand to start the year is games against East Carolina (Sept. 2) and UNC Wilmington (Sept. 4). This marks the fifth time in the past six years that Davidson has faced UNCW, which owns a 5-2 record in the series, but the Wildcats won last year's meeting at home, 2-0.
September 9 and 11 has the 'Cats heading to Annapolis, Md., to play in the Navy Tournament, which they also did in 2001 and 2006. They will face George Washington for the first time in program history to open the tournament, and then close out the four-team tournament with a 2 p.m. contest against Navy, which is coming off a 9-8-3 season in 2010.
Playing cross-county rival Charlotte for the 15th time, Davidson returns home for its last non-conference match as it squares off vs. the 49ers on Sunday, Spet. 18. The 49ers were 16-5 last year, including an 8-1 record in the Atlantic-10 where they reached the finals in the league tournament. Davidson has won two of the last three meetings in the series at Alumni Stadium.
The Wildcats will start SoCon play and seek their first regular-season title since 2005 when they open up at Furman (Sept. 23) and Wofford (Sept. 25). Last year's meetings with both teams resulted in a pair of ties. Davidson has won its last three straight at Furman (9-8-3 last year), while its riding an eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3) overall vs. Wofford.
The next four conference games will all be at the friendly confines of Alumni Stadium as Davidson will face Elon (Sept. 30), UNCG (Oct. 2), Appalachian State (Oct. 7) and Western Carolina (Oct. 9) during the homestand. UNCG, the reigning SoCon regular-season and tournament champion, will be guided by first-year head coach Steve Nugent. The Spartans were 19-2-1 overall and an 11-0 in the league last year.
Three of the final five regular-season games will be on the road starting with a 7 p.m. contest at College of Charleston, Oct. 13. Davidson returns home for a game vs. The Citadel, which the 'Cats hold a 9-1 record in the all-time series, and then hit the road for games at Samford (Oct. 21) and Chattanooga (Oct. 23). The Wildcats nearly upset the second-seeded Bulldogs (13-5-3 a year ago) in the SoCon Tournament last year, playing to a 1-1 draw before falling 4-3 in penalty kicks.
Davidson's 1-0 win last year at home vs. Chattanooga was the program's 100th in SoCon play and pushed its win streak to six straight vs. the Mocs. The Wildcats hold a 15-1-1 mark in the all-time series.
Closing out the regular season is a 7 p.m. match against Georgia Southern, Oct. 26. This is the fifth straight year the 'Cats will finish out the season against the Eagles. Davidson is 6-1-1 in the last eight meetings vs. GSU and 17-8-1 all-time.
The SoCon Tournament, an eight-team format with the four higher seeds hosting the first round, begins Oct. 30. The semifinals and championship game will be hosted by UNCG in Greensboro, N.C., Nov. 4 and 6. Since 1994, the first year the Wildcats were members of the SoCon, they have gone 16-12 in the conference tournament and taken home the championship title four times — 1994, '95, '96 and 2009.
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