University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
USC Upstate
Bulldogs Open Mennell Era with Friday Night Victory
08.28.2015 | Men's Soccer
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 2 – USC Upstate 0
Teams: Asheville (1-0, 0-0 BSC)
USC Upstate (0-1, 0-0 ASun)
Location: County University Soccer Stadium/Spartanburg, S.C.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Visiting UNC Asheville netted a pair of second half goals as the Bulldogs opened 2015 with a victory and gave new coach Mathes Mennell his first win as a head coach.
THE TURNING POINT
Scoreless into the 59th minute, USC Upstate lost possession deep in their own end and the Bulldogs capitalized, with Andrew Lawrence scoring the opening goal of the year on an assist by Ben Chapel. Asheville added a second goal in the 75th minute by Zach Joens, assisted by Emil Gonsalvez.
NOTABLES
-A tightly contested game the midfield, each team finished with seven total shots. The Bulldogs got four of those seven on goal, while Upstate saw five of their seven shots go on goal.
-Goalkeeper Zak Davis notched five saves in net for Asheville.
-The Bulldogs are now 2-5-1 all-time against USC Upstate, but are 2-0-1 in the last three matchups (wins in 2013 and 2015 – both in Spartanburg)
-Tonight's win is the first Asheville season-opening win since 2012 against Brevard. The last Division I season-opening victory for the Bulldogs came back when they began 2007 with a win over IUPUI.
QUOTABLES
“Overall I thought it was a good team performance. I thought Upstate did a very good job of interrupting our rhythm in the first half and that led us to be a little unsettled in our possession. We made adjustments at halftime and the game opened up for us and we were able to get both goals. We were able to get a lot of players minutes – it's going to be a team effort all year and everyone is going to have a role and a job to do. It's nice to see our hard work pay off in a positive result. We will enjoy this before turning our attention to a very good LIU Brooklyn team on Sunday. We want to make sure we put on a good performance for our hometown fans.” - Head Coach Mathes Mennell
UP NEXT
-Asheville comes home on Sunday for theirlone non-conference home match when they host LIU Brooklyn at 1 p.m. at Greenwood Field. Following Sunday's game, the Bulldogs will hit the road for their next five matches.
