Bulldog Soccer Opens Spring Slate With a Pair of Home Matches

Charleston, S.C. – The Citadel women's soccer team will be back in action this weekend as it hosts two spring games on Washington Light Infantry Field. The Bulldogs will take on USC-Aiken on Saturday at 11 a.m., before facing on the South Carolina Women's League team on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Bulldogs will look to gain more experience and build off of their fall season when they finished with a record of 5-11-3 (3-6-2 in the Southern Conference). The story of the season was the outstanding play of sophomores Vanessa Aponte and Mariana Garcia.

Aponte and Garcia etched their place in The Citadel soccer's record book throughout the season. Aponte, who led the team in almost every statistical category at the end of the year, recorded a season- and conference-high 83 shots to go along with her eight goals (13 career/6^th all-time), three assists (8 career/2^nd all-time) and team-leading 19 points (34 career). The Orlando, Fla., native also racked up two SoCon Player of the Week Awards and was named the ninth-best player to watch in the conference by TopDrawerSoccer.com.

Garcia, who was coming off a 2010 season where she was tabbed the Freshman and SoCon Player of the Year, picked up right where she left off. The Bogota, Colombia, native followed closely behind teammate Aponte with almost mirrored statistics, netting seven goals (17 career, 4^th all-time), four assists (6 career, 6^th all-time), 71 shots (124 career, 4^th all-time) and four game-winners (9 career/ 1^st all-time). The sophomore also was named the top player to watch in the SoCon by TopDrawerSoccer.com.

The complete 2012 Bulldog spring soccer schedule is listed below:

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