Aug. 31, 2007
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Follow the Tournament via Live Stats: Friday vs Wisconsin | Sunday vs. Texas Tech
Read VUcommodores.com’s 2007 Soccer Season Preview
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Vanderbilt opens its 2007 soccer campaign this weekend at the Nike Invitational in Athens, Ga.
The Commodores will face Wisconsin in the season opener on Friday at 3:30 p.m. CT and will then take on Texas Tech on Sunday at 10 a.m.
The tournament is hosted by the University of Georgia at the Turner Soccer Complex.
Vanderbilt is coming off a 10-4-7 season and has 13 veterans and 11 newcomers that made up the Southeastern Conference’s top recruiting class. They lost a 2-0 decision to Virginia Tech in an exhibition contest last Friday at the VU Soccer Complex.
Wisconsin returns seven starters from last year’s team that finished 7-9-3 overall and 4-5-1 in the Big Ten. Head coach Paula Wilkins is in her first year at the helm of the Badgers ship after going 119-19-11 in six years at Penn State. The Badgers battled local foe Marquette to a 1-1 draw in an exhibition game last weekend.
Texas Tech is also under the guidance of a first-year head coach as Tom Stone takes over a program that finished 7-11-2 overall and 2-7-1 in the Big 12 in 2006. Stone served as an assistant coach at Clemson last season and has a veteran club at Tech with 10 starters and 16 letterwinners back this year.
Vanderbilt is 1-3-2 in regular season openers under Ronnie Coveleskie and will seek its first season opening win since the 2001 opener against UT-Chattanooga. The Commodores are 26-7-10 in the last two seasons and have made back-to-back NCAA tournaments for the first time since the 1997 and 1998 seasons.