'Soccer in Sanford' set between Georgia, James Madison

Soccer is returning to Sanford Stadium for the first time in 30 years, and this time it is Georgia's own team taking the pitch. In 1996, Sanford Stadium played host to the U.S. women's national team's 2-1 Olympic gold medal victory over China. The game had set a new international attendance record for a women's sporting event with 76,481 fans spectating that day. On Thursday, Aug. 20, to be exact, Georgia soccer will lace up their cleats to play James Madison on the same turf 30 years later. The event, dubbed "Soccer in Sanford," will be a historic first for the program between the hedges with record attempts on the line. The match will be the home regular season opener for the Bulldogs, who are 0-0-2 after tying 0-0 with Illinois on Aug. 13 and 1-1 with Minnesota on Aug. 16. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. For those not attending, the game will be streamed via the SEC Network. However, for those who want to participate in the attempt to break the NCAA soccer attendance records — 14,410 for women set in 1990 and 22,512 for men set in 1980 — tickets are free through the school's website. Georgia head coach Keidane McAlpine helped set the NCAA regular season women's soccer attendance record (11,925) when he was at USC in a match against UCLA on Nov. 3, 2017. James Madison head coach Joshua Walters Sr. was on UCLA's staff as associate head coach during that game. Last season, Georgia went 10-5-6 overall. They lost in the SEC Tournament semifinals to Vanderbilt, 2-0, and then in the NCAA Tournament first round to Ohio State, again 2-0. Meanwhile, James Madison went 9-4-6. The Dukes are 1-1 to start this season. This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: 'Soccer in Sanford' set between Georgia, James Madison