Women's Soccer Builds Momentum for Bright Future

The UNC Asheville women's soccer team continued to build steady momentum under the direction of head coach Michelle Demko in 2016.

The Bulldogs finished with a deceiving 8-10-0 overall record in 2016. Asheville finished with a 3-6-0 record in Big South Conference play that put them in seventh place but was close to being so much better. Demko's club dropped three league matches by just one goal.

In addition, the non-conference schedule was the toughest the Bulldog program had faced in several years but did have some highlights. Asheville enjoyed a 3-1 victory at mountain rival Western Carolina. The Bulldogs first over the Cats since the 2004 season.

In league play, Asheville picked up a huge win at High Point late in the year when the Bulldogs edged the regular-season champions, 1-0 on a goal from Paige Trent. It was the Blue & White's first win at High Point since the 2000 season and first victory for the Bulldogs over the Panthers since 2009.

The future is very bright for Asheville as only two seniors graduate from this past year's club.

Demko, finishing up her seventh season as head coach of the Bulldogs, looked back on the positives of 2016.

"Looking back on our season I think everything that happened will be the catalyst that drives our players to get better. I know some of our results in both non-conference and conference play were disappointing," commented Demko. "We were on the side of some bad luck for a few of them and other games we got tested and learned where we needed to keep growing. The great news is I did not think anyone played us off the pitch. We are still very much in the hunt of climbing forward in this conference which is why we need to continue to create a competitive and challenging environment as a staff for the spring season.

"Playing a more difficult non-conference schedule was also done by design. I wanted our players to have to compete for longer stretches to prepare us for the grind of our conference play. This would test us physically but also mentally," added Demko.

There were some great individual highlights for the Bulldogs in 2016. Senior Paige Trent made her final campaign a good one as she scored a team-high five goals and had 12 points. Three of her goals were game-winners. She earned second team All-Conference honors for her play. She was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Also earning second-team All-Conference honors was junior defender Emma Houser. She scored three goals for the Bulldogs with two being game-winners.

Sister Caroline Houser made Honorable Mention All-Conference. Caroline was Asheville's top point producer with 13 points. She added three goals and a Big South-leading eight assists.

Sophomore goalkeeper Keller Dixon led the Big South in saves per game with a 6.06 per match average. She also has done the job in the classroom as she earned a spot on the Big South All-Academic team. Dixon has posted two 4.0 GPA's during her time as a student at UNC Asheville.

Demko is already looking forward to 2017.

"After experiencing this season, I am more excited than ever to get back to work. We played a very high level of soccer from 18 yard box to 18 yard box. Our weaknesses are well within our control which is the exciting part for me," declared Demko. "Our biggest problem was giving up goals from our six yard box to the penalty area. I believe 90 percent of the goals we gave up came from this area so our box awareness needs to increase. In my opinion that is an easy fix. We are still a very young team, only losing two seniors. I think having more time with the bulk of our team will have us see more growth this spring and heading into the fall."

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Women's Soccer Builds Momentum for Bright Future

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