FLORENCE, S.C. – The Francis Marion University and University of South Carolina women’s soccer teams will meet for the first time when the Gamecocks entertain the Patriots, Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Graveyard (Stone Stadium).

Both teams will enter the contests 0-2: Francis Marion lost to UNC Charlotte 2-1 and Gardner-Webb University 3-0, while USC dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions to the Universities of Illinois and Iowa at the Tiger Invitational in Columbia, Mo.

South Carolina is 19-2 at home against non-conference opponents over the past five seasons.

FMU head coach Marty Beall welcomed back six letterwinners from last year’s 5-9-1 squad, while Gamecock head coach Shelley Smith had 16 letterwinners return from her 2005 team that was 6-12-0.

Francis Marion is in its second year of transitioning from NCAA Division II to Division I.

Junior forward Ashley Fortune scored FMU’s lone goal this season, her 20th career tally.

Following Thursday’s match, Francis Marion will play at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., Sunday at noon.

The last time FMU faced a USC squad in a face-to-face team contest was in April 2005, when the Patriot women’s tennis team dropped a 9-0 decision to the Gamecock women. Francis Marion’s last victory over USC in a team sport occurred on Feb. 20, 1984, in women’s basketball (a 73-72 Patriot win). The FMU men’s tennis team captured a 9-0 win over a USC “B” team in 1989, and last fall, a USC golf team finished two spots behind the Patriots at the Raines Development Group Intercollegiate Tournament at the Country Club of South Carolina.