Hurricanes Kick Off the 2004 Season at George Mason

Aug. 26, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami soccer team will open the 2004 season Friday night, traveling to Fairfax, Va. to take on George Mason at 7 p.m. at George Mason Stadium.

UM’s match with the Patriots will also mark Miami’s first match as a members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Hurricanes return 14 letterwinners from a year ago including eight starters from the 2003 team that posted an overall record of 9-91 while finishing fourth in the BIG EAST with a conference mark of 3-3-0.

Leading the Hurricane returnees are senior forward Britney Butcher, who registered three goals and five assists in 2003, junior forward Lindsey Yach – UM’s leading scorer last season – and sophomore midfielder Sheuneen Ta.

“We are extremely excited about opening the season with highly competitive team like George Mason,” third-year head coach Tricia Taliaferro said.

“With our schedule, we are going to be tested early playing George Mason, but I feel that our team has come together well this summer and our trip to Brazil really helped us improve. I’m impressed with our playing style right now and a lot of that is based on expectations we have coming off last season paired with some things we were able to accomplish in the spring,” Taliaferro added.

The Patriots finished the 2003 season with an overall record of 9-6-6 and enter the match with 14 returnees, including All-Patriot League first team selection senior midfielder Stephanie Parker.