University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Soccer Travels to USC Upstate Tonight
09.22.2010 | Men's Soccer
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville men's soccer team is back on the road tonight as it continues its tour of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Bulldogs travel to USC Upstate and tonight's match marks the third of four straight games they'll play against teams from the A-Sun.
Tonight's match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. It will be video-streamed and can be seen for a small fee at https://asun.neulion.com/asc/console.jsp.
Asheville (2-3-0) hopes to snap a two-game losing streak tonight. The Bulldogs played at Lipscomb and Belmont last weekend and dropped both matches. Asheville lost 2-0 to Lipscomb on Friday and 2-1 to Belmont on Sunday.
"We didn't play that well against Lipscomb on Friday but they (Lipscomb) had a lot do with us not playing well either," commented Bulldog coach Matt Kern. "We played much better against Belmont but just couldn't get the ball into the back of the net. We just need to keep working hard to get better with each match."
The Bulldogs face a dangerous USC Upstate (0-3-2) club that is searching for its first victory of the year. The Spartans have been in every match and beat Clemson in a scrimmage prior to the year, 2-1.
"Don't let Upstate's record fool you. They've got a good team that's been a little snake-bit in the first part of the season," explained Kern. "We lost to them last year and know we're going to have to play very well tonight to have a chance to win."
Upstate beat the Bulldogs a year ago 2-1 at Greenwood Field. The Spartans took a 2-0 halftime lead and held off a late Asheville comeback to record the road win.
Kern's club finishes up the road trip at another Atlantic Sun foe Saturday night when the Bulldogs play East Tennessee State. Asheville opens Big South Conference play next Wednesday (Sept. 29) at home against Gardner-Webb starting at 7 p.m.
"We certainly will know a lot about the Atlantic Sun once this week is over with," stated Kern. "We want to finish strong this week and have some confidence going into Big South Conference play."
Junior midfielder Jake Hagedorn leads Asheville in goals scored with three and points with six. Connor Holzinger is right behind with a goal and three assists for five points. Goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen has played every minute of every match and has a 1.40 goals against average with two shutouts.
