Georgia Soccer Sets NCAA Attendance Record on 30th Anniversary Celebration of USWNT 1996 Olympic Gold Medal

Although the legendary Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., is home to the University of Georgia’s football team, two of the most iconic moments in the venue’s history have been women’s soccer games.

The first was the gold medal match of the inaugural women’s soccer tournament at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games. A goal in the 18th minute from Shannon MacMillan and the game-winner by Tiffeny Milbrett gave the U.S. Women’s National Team the first of its five Olympic gold medals. The crowd of 76,489 was the largest attendance ever recorded for a women’s sporting event at that time.

The second happened this Thursday, just over 30 years after that memorable WNT performance. In the first soccer match “between the hedges” since 1996, the No. 25-ranked Georgia soccer team held its home opener at Sanford Stadium. Fans clad in red and black packed into the lower bowl to cheer on the Bulldogs in the sweltering August heat. The crowd of 25,433 set a new NCAA attendance record and watched the home team open the season with a 6-0 shutout victory over James Madison University.

“This was a major win for the University of Georgia,” said UGA head coach Keidane McAlpine. “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.”

It was McAlpine and UGA Director of Athletics Josh Brooks who conceived the idea of the “Soccer in Sanford” event to honor the 30th anniversary of the gold medal match and celebrate the growth of soccer in Georgia. Since that 1996 victory, Georgia has seen incredible growth in the sport of soccer, adding an MLS team in Atlanta United, becoming the home of U.S. Soccer with the Federation’s first-ever National Training Center in Fayette County and expanding to the NWSL with a women’s professional club coming in 2028.

Georgia also set out to break the previous collegiate women’s and men’s attendance records at the match. UGA President Jere W. Morehead and Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart were among the many voices encouraging students and Athens residents to attend the match since it was announced in May.

Thursday’s crowd smashed both the previous NCAA women’s attendance record of 14,410 set in 1999 between Notre Dame and North Carolina and the men’s mark of 22,512 set in 1980 between Saint Louis and SIU Edwardsville. UGA’s soccer team traditionally plays home games at Turner Soccer Complex, which seats about 1,700. Just one game into the 2026 season, Georgia has already surpassed their home attendance total from last season, 15,916 in 12 games.

The Bulldogs put on quite the show for their fans in the home opener. Five different players got on the scoresheet with three goals in each half, and the 2023 SEC champions outshot JMU 24-6 with a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal to make the first win of the season a night to remember.

“I think we went out there and showed everybody exactly what Georgia soccer was,” said forward Mya Townes, “and just to be able to look up in the stands and see so many people riding for us and supporting us, and doing it on such a large scale, was really something special.”