Men's Soccer Hosts App State on Saturday in Opening Match of 2008 Season

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's soccer team will play its first game of the season Saturday afternoon at Greenwood Field when the Bulldogs host Appalachian State at 2 p.m. Admission is free. The match will be video-streamed, weather permitting, for a small fee and can be viewed at www.bigsouthsports.com.

UNC Asheville is coming off two straight win in exhibition play as the Bulldogs knocked off King 3-0 on Aug. 21 and then blitzed East Tennessee State, 3-1 on Aug. 23. It's the first time Steve Cornish's club has been perfect in exhibition play in five years.

“We played some good soccer in both of our exhibition matches but now we need to take it up a notch against a fine Appalachian State squad,” stated Cornish. “Our lads have trained hard since then. I like the competition we're having in our training and that should only make us a better team.”

The Bulldogs finished 4-12-1 last season but one of those wins was a 2-1 victory at Appalachian State.

“Last year's win at App State was a good result,” commented Cornish. “However, we were outplayed for a majority of the match but managed to score two late goals to get a result.

“Last year we felt like there were some matches where we out-played teams but didn't get the result,” added Cornish. “I'm sure ASU probably felt that way when they played us. We're going to have to be ready to play from the start on Saturday.”

The Bulldogs plan to improve this year by doing one thing better ? score more goals.

“We were shut out of nine matches last season,” explained Cornish. “In some of those matches, we played very good soccer but didn't get the job done because we couldn't finish. We must get better in that area this year.”

Asheville returns senior forward Scott Szymanski to this year's club. The Asheville native was a bright spot last year with nine goals and 21 points. He earned second team all-conference honors and made the league's all-tournament team.

The Bulldogs return a veteran defense led by senior Edwin Wotortsi. He has earned all-conference honors for two straight seasons.

Cornish has 14 freshmen on this year's roster and all will have a chance to play this season. Freshman goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen is from Finland and has played very well in the preseason. He should get the start on Saturday.

Asheville has four freshmen locally who could be key players for the Bulldogs. They are Bryan Bartels (Carolina Day), Kye Grooms (Reynolds), Jake Hagedorn (Brevard) and Jake Sides (Reynolds).