University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville Men's Soccer Kicks Off Season Vs Elon, Duke At Rennie Invitational
08.25.2016 | Men's Soccer
THE RUNDOWN
Event: John Rennie Nike Invitational
Teams: UNC Asheville
Elon University
Duke University
University of San Diego
Location: Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Times: Listed below
Durham, N.C. - The UNC Asheville men's soccer team will open its 2016 regular season with a pair of tough matches against Elon University and Duke University in the John Rennie Nike Invitational at Duke Aug. 26 and 28.
UNC ASHEVILLE VS ELON - Friday, Aug. 26 at 5 p.m.
The matchup against Elon will provide a tough opening test for UNC Asheville. Elon finished 14-6-1 last year, won a share of the Colonial Athletic Association's (CAA) regular season championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years.
This year's Elon team, led by third-year head coach Chris Little, has been picked to finish third in the CAA. The team returns 14 players including junior defender Jonathan Coleby, sophomore forward Jaiden Fortune, sophomore defender Nicholas O'Callaghan and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Matthew Jegier.
Coleby and Fortune were both named to the Preseason All-CAA team, and Fortune is the team's top returning scorer after compiling 16 points last year. Both players made the CAA's All-Rookie team as freshmen. Jegier and O'Callaghan were both named to the All-CAA Preseason Honorable Mention team. Jegier also made the CAA's All-Rookie team last year.
Elon recently completed a preseason slate that featured a 1-1 tie against NSCAA No. 10 Georgetown University, a 1-0 win over Campbell University and a 4-0 win over No. 22 UNC Charlotte. Elon received votes in the NSCAA Coaches poll.
This is the fourth straight season that Elon will open its season in the John Rennie Nike Invitational. Following the matchup with UNC Asheville, they will battle the University of San Diego, who is a member of the West Coast Conference.
UNC ASHEVILLE VS DUKE - Sunday, Aug. 28 at 2:30 p.m.
Following its season opener against Elon, UNC Asheville will battle host school Duke University on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils finished 10-7-2 last year, including a 3-4-1 record in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play. They finished fourth in the ACC's Coastal Division, and they have been picked to finish fourth this year in the preseason coaches poll.
This year, the Blue Devils battled No. 10 Georgetown University to a 0-0 tie to open its preseason before closing with a 2-2 tie against No. 3 Clemson University.
The Blue Devils return eight players who have played at least 25 games in a Duke uniform, led by senior forward Brody Huitema, who has seen action in 56 games. The team also returns five of its top eight scorers from last year's squad, including the top returner Brian White, who is a junior midfielder. Additionally, Duke has made two key additions in graduate senior goalkeeper Robert Moewes and freshman Suniel Veerakone.
Moewes transferred in from Binghamton University, where he concluded his time as the back-to-back America East Goalkeeper of the Year. He started all 20 games, recorded six shutouts and twice made the America East First Team. Veerakone, meanwhile, started both of the team's exhibition games as the attacking center midfield role. He was ranked No. 41 in the Top Drawer Soccer IMG Top 150.
The Blue Devils will also take on the University of San Diego this Friday prior to battling UNC Asheville on Sunday.
QUOTABLES
“Elon is a great test for our group starting off the season. They are very well coached and talented. They have a lot of great attacking options. They are a very good team from a very good conference. We're very excited to be able to open our season against one of the better teams in North Carolina in Elon. And obviously Duke is a member of the ACC and an excellent program as well. So these are two excellent tests for us to gauge where we are in our process and an awesome opportunity for our student-athletes be able to prove themselves on the field with great student-athletes from two great universities. We're very much looking forward to these two games. We're looking to see how our process is and see if we can't help along our process by getting off on the right foot and playing the way we want to play.” – UNC Asheville head men's soccer coach Mathes Mennell.
NOTABLES
- UNC Asheville head men's soccer coach Mathes Mennell is entering his second season. The team finished 6-11-1 last year, including a 3-6 record in the Big South. Among those three wins, though, was a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Coastal Carolina. This year's squad returns 18 letterwinners and brings in nine freshmen. The team finished 1-0-1 in a pair of exhibition matches against Virginia Military Institute and Georgia Southern.
- UNC Asheville is 5-4-1 against Elon since 1988. The most recent matchup came on Sept. 12, 2008 when Elon picked up a 1-0 win in overtime. In those 10 matchups, the winning team shutout the opponent six times, and UNC Asheville is 3-3 in those matchups.
- UNC Asheville is 0-3 against Duke University since 1988. All three matchups have occurred at Duke, and they all ended in shutouts as Duke holds a 13-0 advantage in goal differential since then. The most recent matchup came on Oct. 25, 2011.
- John Rennie, who this weekend's invitational is named after, is one of the most successful coaches in NCAA collegiate soccer history, Rennie led Duke to the school's first NCAA title in any sport when the Blue Devils captured the 1986 NCAA Championship. He served as the head coach at Duke for 29 seasons and finished his 36-year coaching career with a 454-207-48 record.
FOLLOW LIVE
All four games in the John Rennie Nike Invitational are scheduled to be aired by ACC Network Extra and can be viewed on ESPN3 or through the WatchESPN app. The direct WatchESPN link for the Elon match can be found here, while the direct WatchESPN link for the Duke match can be found here. Live stats for the Elon match can be found here, while live stats for the Duke match can be found here.
UP NEXT
Following this weekend's John Rennie Nike Invitational, UNC Asheville will stay on the road to begin the regular season. The team begins a two-game trip to Florida on Sept. 2 as they take on Jacksonville University before battling Stetson University on Sept. 4. The road trip concludes with a Sept. 9 matchup against Davidson College. The team's home opener will come Sept. 11 against UNC Greensboro.
