How Georgia Smashed NCAA Soccer Attendance Record on Iconic USWNT Anniversary

The University of Georgia women’s soccer team made the latest bit of history for the sport on Thursday night.

Playing their first home game of the new NCAA season, the Bulldogs welcomed a crowd of 25,433 to the football program’s famed Sanford Stadium to witness a 6–0 beatdown against James Madison University.

The total attendance smashed previous NCAA attendance records for men’s and women’s soccer, with the previous women’s record of 14,410 set at a 1999 clash between Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina, and the men’s record of 22,512 from a 1980 clash between St. Louis and SIU Edwardsville.

Regularly, the Georgia women’s soccer team plays at the Turner Soccer Complex, which holds a capacity crowd of 1,700. One game into the new season, though, the over 25,000 is already nearly 10,000 more than the total 15,916 fans who attended the 12 home games in 2025.

Touted as “Soccer at Sanford,” the game marked the 30th anniversary of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold medal final—also at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga.—when the U.S. women’s national team captured its first of five Olympic titles. The Stars and Stripes defeated China 2–1 via a game-winning goal from Tiffeny Milbrett in front of a then-record crowd of 76,489.

GOALLLLLLLL😤

🐶 1 | 👑 0

📺 @SECNetwork | https://t.co/DPxW9u7M3a
📊 https://t.co/Fhy3ekTuxW #GoDawgs 🐾 pic.twitter.com/B4UP6Eyk4Q
— Georgia Soccer (@UGASoccer) August 20, 2026

The idea to combine the Olympic gold medal anniversary with the women’s soccer team’s opening game came as a combined effort between women’s soccer head coach Keidane McAlpine and the athletic director, Josh Brooks. It served as a marquee sporting event early in the season at the SEC school, which opened its fall semester on Aug. 17.

“This was a major win for the University of Georgia,” said McAlpine, who took on the head coaching role in 2021. “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. I have to show gratitude to all of those people, including the women that kind of set this thing rolling.”

Tickets to Thursday’s game were free, but fans and students still had to pay for other aspects of the match-going experience, including parking and concessions.

Georgia Stars Come Out

Kirby Smart showed up to support @UGASoccer as they play in Sanford Stadium 👏 pic.twitter.com/7uuTR35p80
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) August 20, 2026

Some of the most notable names in the Bulldogs athletics community were out to support the women’s soccer team, with football head coach Kirby Smart taking in a different sport from his usual sideline as well as the men’s basketball team and over 500 other UGA student-athletes.

“I hope they felt special,” Smart said on SEC’s broadcast. “This has been an awesome opportunity for them to come and honor a tradition here with what happened 30 years ago. I know they’re pumped to get this crowd here... It makes you notice how much these student-athletes care about each other, the fanbase here in Athens. “

Added sophomore forward Mya Towns, who opened the scoring against her parents’ alma mater: “We went out there and showed everybody exactly what Georgia soccer was. And just to be able to look up in the stands and see so many people riding for us and supporting us and just doing it on such a large scale was really something special.”

Another Women’s Sports Record

University of Georgia women’s soccer — Soccer joins basketball and volleyball in drawing immense crowds to NCAA football stadiums. | University of Georgia Athletics

While the behemoth football stadiums may be most famous for their football exploits, women’s sports have enjoyed some stellar moments in their hallowed grounds over recent years.

In 2023, the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers drew 92,003 fans to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb. for a women’s volleyball win over the University of Omaha, and in the same year, the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark-led Hawkeyes hosted 55,646 fans at Kinnick Stadium for an exhibition game against De Paul.

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