Men's Soccer Hosts Liberty on Saturday Night

THE MATCHUP

Teams: Asheville (4-8-1, 1-4-0 BSC)

Liberty (5-8-0, 1-4-0 BSC)

Location: Greenwood Field/Asheville, N.C.

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

LIVE VIDEO (BIG SOUTH NETWORK) | LIVE STATS

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Following a three-game road swing, the UNC Asheville men's soccer team returns to Greenwood Field Saturday night, squaring off against Liberty at 7 p.m. The men's soccer match will be the second leg of an Asheville soccer doubleheader, as the women's team plays at 4:30 p.m.

Asheville concluded its three-game road trip with a 4-2 loss to William & Mary Oct. 20.

In their last home game (Oct. 11), the Bulldogs took down then-No. 4 Coastal Carolina by a 3-2 decision. Asheville's win over Coastal marked the first win over a ranked team in nearly two years (Bulldogs defeated then-No. 6 Coastal Nov. 2, 2013).

Liberty has lost its last three in a row and fell 3-0 to Radford in its last time out Oct. 20.

NOTABLES

-Junior forward Zach Joens leads Asheville in multiple statistical categories, including goals (6), points (12), total shots (25) and shots on goal (16).

-Senior goalkeeper Zak Davis ranks fifth in the nation while leading the Big South Conference in saves per game (5.82). Davis' 64 total saves also places him second in the conference.

-Asheville has seen four different players score the game-winning goals in its' four victories this season (Andrew Lawrence, Chuka Anyafo, Ben Chapel, Cy Gourlay).

-Asheville has scored 10 of its 15 (.667) goals this season in the second halves of matches.

- Asheville has seen four different players score the game-winning goals in the Bulldogs' four victories this season (Andrew Lawrence, Chuka Anyafo, Ben Chapel, Cy Gourlay).

-Under first-year head coach Mathes Mennell, the Bulldogs have taken steps in the right direction. Asheville upset then-no. 4 Coastal Carolina at home Oct. 11 to give the Bulldogs their first victory over a ranked opponent since defeating then-no. 6 Coastal on Nov. 2, 2013.

- Asheville is 0-4-1 in its last five meetings against Liberty, including a 3-1 loss in the teams' last matchup Oct, 25, 2014.

QUOTABLES

“Excited to host Liberty as part of the doubleheader with the women's team with a great amount of family and friends in town to watch us play. It should be a good opportunity for us to continue our process and see how we do in the attacking part of the field. We have spent a lot of time this week on imprinting our style of play into the match early in the game, so I will be interested to see how well we are able to do that.” – first-year head coach Mathes Mennell

UP NEXT

-The Bulldogs travel to Atlanta for a non-conference matchup with Georgia State Tuesday, Oct. 27.