When you think for a few moments, historic moments in the history of Sanford Stadium quickly come to mind.
The Herschel vs. George Rogers Show in 1980, Kevin Butler’s kick to beat Clemson, the goalposts coming down after Tennessee, the 2007 Blackout Game, the Notre Dame game…the Tech instant classic.
Those are all iconic, no doubt. But after Thursday night, the Georgia football program has company by way of UGA’s women’s soccer program.
Not only did soccer return to Sanford Stadium on Thursday with
a 6-0 win against James Madison, but the number of people that saw it set a massive record. An NCAA record 25,433 fans that included 500 UGA student-athletes were on hand for the memorable night.
That last part is important. Games likes this don’t happen on accident. The fact that this had been talked up around Athens for a few months made it clear that this was a huge deal…and even in the weeks approaching, that energy was boosted by UGA President Jere Morehead and head football coach Kirby Smart.
It’s simple, folks. When Kirby talks, people around Athens listen. And the number of fans part of Thursday night showed many of them did indeed listen.
“This doesn’t happen simply because we had the idea. It happens because everybody involved jumps on two feet and makes it go. This was a major win for the University of Georgia, it was a major win for our program, it was a major win for collegiate soccer, and we had an opportunity to celebrate one of the best moments in women’s soccer ever that I think is the catalyst for us being here right now. So, I have to show gratitude to all of those people, including those women, that kind of set this thing rolling.” – Georgia head coach Keidane McAlpine
Clearly, this was a huge night for the soccer program, too. Odds are good many fans here, including UGA students were at their first Georgia soccer match. There’s an adage among sports marketing that if you get a fan to a sport in person once, they can become a life-long fan. For the Lady Dawgs’ sake, the hope is clearly that Thursday is a long-term win for this team ranked 25th in the country.
The next question of course, is what’s next at Sanford? Some “banana ball” enthusiasts would likely ask for that traveling circus, but how does that raise the profile of UGA student-athletes?
But why not moving the Tech-Georgia baseball series to Sanford Stadium? Can you imagine baseball on a chamber of commerce day Between The Hedges?
Go Dawgs!
