By John Frierson
Staff Writer

The Georgia soccer team will learn a lot about itself in the next two weeks. The Bulldogs open their season Thursday night at the Turner Soccer Complex against eighth-ranked UCLA. A week later, after hosting Albany on Sunday, top-ranked North Carolina comes to Athens.

The Tar Heels were national champions last fall, and the Bruins won the title in 2022.

“We chose to do it that way on purpose,” Georgia’s fourth-year head coach Keidane McAlpine said of the hard non-conference schedule. “If you look at the last three years, we’ve always played a really tough schedule. … We’ve played the defending national champion every season, and I think that’s good for us. I think that’s good for our program as we set the barometer for where we’re trying to go.”

For the players, opening the season with games against some of the best programs in the country is an exciting way to start.

“I think we’re going into these games against these big schools knowing that we can compete,” said senior defender Cate Hardin. “Being a senior, everything feels heightened. Everything just means a little bit more knowing that it’s my last season, so I’m really excited for Thursday. I can’t believe that it’s my last first game.”

For freshman forward Mya Townes, who enrolled early and went through spring practice with the Bulldogs, Thursday’s opener will be a thrill regardless of the opponent. But it’s even more exciting to face some of the best teams in the country early on.

“I think it definitely puts a lot into perspective, like knowing that I came to a program that wants to do great things. We know that to be the best, we have to play against the best,” said Townes, a highly-touted recruit who has already spent time with several U.S. youth national teams. “I think playing games like this very early on is going to be such a fun experience, because we’re going to come out and give it our all, and it’s going to be nice to see the results we get out of that.”

The Bulldogs were predicted to finish fourth in the SEC in the preseason coaches’ poll. And they enter the season with 18 new players (12 freshmen and six transfers) and 11 returning letterwinners, having lost 15 players, including eight that started at least eight games, from last season’s team that went 8-7-6 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Georgia returns only 18.2% of its goal-scorers from last season, led by Summer Denigan’s five. Denigan and Devon Winters are the top returning assisters with four each last season. The Bulldogs have added some talented freshmen, including Townes and fellow USYNT member and early enrollee Hannah Folliard, along with two Mexican youth national team players in forward Hailey Gordon and midfielder Ava Stack.

Townes said enrolling early and spending the spring and summer training with her teammates has allowed her to feel a lot more comfortable heading into her freshman season.

“Coming in the spring was definitely a big leg up. It was something that I really wanted to do, just to get in the rhythm a little earlier,” she said. “It helped with seeing the environment of the team, with the conditioning, the tactics, and just getting the basics down.”

Entering her fourth season, Hardin has had the basics down for a while now. She said the biggest change she’s experienced in her time at Georgia is the growth of her confidence.

“I feel like when I came in, I was a shy, little freshman just trying to work as hard as I can and kind of fly under the radar,” said Hardin, who leads all returning players with 60 career appearances and is second on the team with 4,223 minutes played.

“Now, I think I’ve gained my voice as the years have gone by, and I think my soccer IQ has also really grown. I know the system that the coaches have us play; it’s ingrained in me. I know what they need and I know what they want from the team. I’m so excited to have the knowledge that I’ve learned be put into this last season.”

The Bulldogs also added some experienced depth with six transfers, including graduate defender Laila Booker, a three-time All-Ive League player at Yale, as well as LSU forward Sage Glover, second-team All-Big 12 midfielder Juliauna Hayward from Colorado, and defender Assa Kante, who helped Kansas win the Big 12 tournament last season.

With three-year starter in goal Jordan Brown — second-team All-SEC in 2024 — out for the season with an injury, the Bulldogs may be relying on Folliard at goalkeeper in the opener. Georgia also has redshirt freshman Nicole Bidun and freshman Victoria Saah as options in goal. Georgia scored 33 goals last season and held its opponents to 22.

Playing games against top programs like UCLA and North Carolina in the early part of the schedule should help prepare the Bulldogs for a tough SEC. Arkansas is ranked No. 6 in the preseason coaches’ poll, Vanderbilt is 17th, Texas is 19th, Mississippi State 20th, and South Carolina is ranked 21st. Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky all received votes in the poll.

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.