Women's Soccer Home on Friday and Sunday

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville women's soccer team will be home twice this weekend as the Bulldogs look to build on their 3-1-0 start to the 2014 season. Asheville hosts Alabama State on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and South Carolina State on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $5.

Both matches can be seen for free on the Big South Digital Network under the multimedia tag at uncabulldogs.com.

Michelle Demko's club is off to its best start since the 2006 season and with two wins this weekend would almost match last year's win total of six. The Bulldogs split two matches last weekend as they lost a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to Wofford last Friday before easily downing Mars Hill on Sunday, 2-0.

Demko's team has worked hard in training this week.

"We spent time on our team shape in training, specifically during transition periods in the game. Attacking side, our focus has been more numbers involved in the build-up as well as more players in the box,” stated Demiko. “On the defending side, we have introduced repressing with regards to winning the ball back higher up the field with more numbers in a compact space.”

Alabama State is 2-2-0 on the year with a pair of 1-0 victories. They edged USC Upstate last Friday afternoon at home. The Bulldogs edged the Hornets on the road last season in overtime, 3-2.

"Alabama State will be another 90-minute test for us. Both teams play similar styles and same formations. We have done a good job in our first four games maintaining possession and generating dangerous attacks. We will need that same effort against Alabama State,” declared Demko. “The way we separate ourselves on Friday is to finish the chances we create early in the game and put them on the heels, and under pressure, so we can have a better opportunity of dictating play. They are well coached and disciplined in their roles. We will need a team effort for 90 minutes."

South Carolina State is 1-4-0 on the season, pending a game with USC Upstate on Friday at home. The S.C. State Bulldogs edged Asheville last year, 1-0 in Orangeburg.

"South Carolina State is a team full of athleticism and speed. Their style of play is a bit more direct than ours so this will be a game where the width becomes extremely important to our success. They will try and press us all over the field so we have to do a good job of breaking pressure and switching the play,” commented Demko. “This game will test our mental strength with regard to remaining focused on our style of play and our game plan. We must stay the course for 90 minutes and not be disrupted by a different style of play."

BULLDOG NOTES

Asheville has three players with two goals each in Kaitlyn Eckert, Amanda Dailor and Caroline Houser. Eckert leads the Bulldogs in scoring with seven points.

Eckert has 55 career points and has moved into a tie for seventh place on the school's career points list with Alison Gehringer. She scored her 20^th career goal against Mars Hill and is one of just seven player in the school's program to have 20 career goals.

The Bulldogs have had two games with at least 26 shots. Asheville fired 26 vs. Chattanooga on Aug. 22 and had 29 on Sunday vs. Mars Hill. The 29 shots were the most taken by a Bulldog team since a school-record 36 vs. Lenoir-Rhyne in 1996.

Asheville is second in the Big South in shots taken per match with an 18.25 average.

Senior goalkeeper Heather Muller has made 12 saves this year and is the school's all-time leader with 369 saves.