University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Photo by: Adrian Etheridge
UNC Asheville Men’s Soccer Hosts Liberty Saturday at Greenwood Field
10.06.2017 | Men's Soccer
Watch Live
Live Stats
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's soccer team next welcomes Big South Conference rival Liberty to Greenwood Field on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Kickoff in the conference matchup is set for 7 p.m.
BULLDOG BITES
Follow All of the Action Live
You can watch the UNC Asheville-Liberty conference showdown on the Big South Network HERE. You can also follow all of the action via live stats HERE.
Academically Strong
Both the UNC Asheville men's and women's soccer teams were once again honored for their strong work in the classroom in the 2016-17 season. In fact, UNC Asheville was one of only 197 institutions in all of college soccer to have both their men's and women's soccer programs recognized by the United Soccer Coaches. Altogether, a total of 816 soccer teams (283 men, 533 women) posted a team grade-point average of 3.0 or higher, thereby earning the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the 2016-17 academic year.
"Receiving the Team Academic Award from the United Soccer Coaches – formerly the NSCAA – is a great honor, and I think it is something that really speaks to the mindset of our student-athletes with the great emphasis on the 'student' part," UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell said. "NCAA Division I athletics is an extremely difficult endeavor, and to be able to balance trying to be excellent on the field and at the same time being excellent in the classroom, is a great accomplishment. I could not be more proud of our guys embodying the term student-athlete. For us to win this two years in a row speaks a great deal to the commitment not only from them in how they approach their studies, but also to our university supporting the student-athletes with the wonderful academic support they receive from not only here in the athletic department, but with the university community in general. It's a great honor for our program, but I think it speaks really highly of what we're doing here at UNC Asheville."
About Asheville
UNC Asheville (1-10-0, 0-3-0) welcomes Liberty looking for its second win overall and first Big South Conference win of the season. The Bulldogs are 1-2 on the year in home matches. UNC Asheville collected its first win of the season in a dominating 2-0 win over Wofford on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Greenwood Field. The Bulldogs controlled the run of play for pretty much the entire match against Wofford and probably could have added even more goals to their total as they had numerous quality chances in the first and second half. UNC Asheville scored the first goal in its win over Wofford in the 15th-minute when senior Ben Chapal assisted sophomore Luiz Felipe Dantas. Chapal would get one of his own minutes later when in the 27th-minute fellow Asheville native Jackson Allen beautifully sent a through ball toward Chapal, who would do the rest and slot the ball into the back of the net for what would be the final goal of the night.
Saturday Promotions
Saturday will be "Special Olympics" day at UNC Asheville with free admission to all Special Olympic athletes and volunteers during the tripleheader on the day with volleyball (1 p.m. – Charleston Southern), women's soccer (4 p.m. – High Point) and men's soccer (7 p.m. - Liberty) all in action.
About Liberty
Liberty makes its way to Greenwood Field owning a record of 6-3-1 on the 2017 season. The Flames are 2-1-0 in league play with wins over Longwood and Gardner-Webb. Big South Preseason Attacking Player of the Year Tresor Mbuyu leads the Flames with 17 points on the year on seven goals and three assists.
Quotable
"Liberty's a good team. They do a lot of good things. They've got some really nice players in the attack. The Big South is wide open as I continue to say, but Liberty is going to cause us problems. Like I said after our match at Gardner-Webb, we played really well in stretches. We just do some things that make it challenging for us in moments. We're going to have to find a way to limit those moments, and on the flip slide also create some of those moments for our opponents. Again, I think it would be really easy for our group of players to put their head down and to not necessarily put the work in day in and day out, but our guys have not done that and I keep coming back to the fact that we've got a good team. We've got to find some bounces and we've got to make some bounces for ourselves, but we're looking forward to a great atmosphere on Saturday at Greenwood Field. It will be a great opportunity and it will be nice for us to be back home and play on our field in front of our fans here in Asheville." – Head Coach Mathes Mennell
Up Next
UNC Asheville men's soccer will next head to the High Country to take on Appalachian State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Boone, N.C.
Live Stats
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's soccer team next welcomes Big South Conference rival Liberty to Greenwood Field on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Kickoff in the conference matchup is set for 7 p.m.
BULLDOG BITES
Follow All of the Action Live
You can watch the UNC Asheville-Liberty conference showdown on the Big South Network HERE. You can also follow all of the action via live stats HERE.
Academically Strong
Both the UNC Asheville men's and women's soccer teams were once again honored for their strong work in the classroom in the 2016-17 season. In fact, UNC Asheville was one of only 197 institutions in all of college soccer to have both their men's and women's soccer programs recognized by the United Soccer Coaches. Altogether, a total of 816 soccer teams (283 men, 533 women) posted a team grade-point average of 3.0 or higher, thereby earning the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the 2016-17 academic year.
"Receiving the Team Academic Award from the United Soccer Coaches – formerly the NSCAA – is a great honor, and I think it is something that really speaks to the mindset of our student-athletes with the great emphasis on the 'student' part," UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell said. "NCAA Division I athletics is an extremely difficult endeavor, and to be able to balance trying to be excellent on the field and at the same time being excellent in the classroom, is a great accomplishment. I could not be more proud of our guys embodying the term student-athlete. For us to win this two years in a row speaks a great deal to the commitment not only from them in how they approach their studies, but also to our university supporting the student-athletes with the wonderful academic support they receive from not only here in the athletic department, but with the university community in general. It's a great honor for our program, but I think it speaks really highly of what we're doing here at UNC Asheville."
About Asheville
UNC Asheville (1-10-0, 0-3-0) welcomes Liberty looking for its second win overall and first Big South Conference win of the season. The Bulldogs are 1-2 on the year in home matches. UNC Asheville collected its first win of the season in a dominating 2-0 win over Wofford on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Greenwood Field. The Bulldogs controlled the run of play for pretty much the entire match against Wofford and probably could have added even more goals to their total as they had numerous quality chances in the first and second half. UNC Asheville scored the first goal in its win over Wofford in the 15th-minute when senior Ben Chapal assisted sophomore Luiz Felipe Dantas. Chapal would get one of his own minutes later when in the 27th-minute fellow Asheville native Jackson Allen beautifully sent a through ball toward Chapal, who would do the rest and slot the ball into the back of the net for what would be the final goal of the night.
Saturday Promotions
Saturday will be "Special Olympics" day at UNC Asheville with free admission to all Special Olympic athletes and volunteers during the tripleheader on the day with volleyball (1 p.m. – Charleston Southern), women's soccer (4 p.m. – High Point) and men's soccer (7 p.m. - Liberty) all in action.
About Liberty
Liberty makes its way to Greenwood Field owning a record of 6-3-1 on the 2017 season. The Flames are 2-1-0 in league play with wins over Longwood and Gardner-Webb. Big South Preseason Attacking Player of the Year Tresor Mbuyu leads the Flames with 17 points on the year on seven goals and three assists.
Quotable
"Liberty's a good team. They do a lot of good things. They've got some really nice players in the attack. The Big South is wide open as I continue to say, but Liberty is going to cause us problems. Like I said after our match at Gardner-Webb, we played really well in stretches. We just do some things that make it challenging for us in moments. We're going to have to find a way to limit those moments, and on the flip slide also create some of those moments for our opponents. Again, I think it would be really easy for our group of players to put their head down and to not necessarily put the work in day in and day out, but our guys have not done that and I keep coming back to the fact that we've got a good team. We've got to find some bounces and we've got to make some bounces for ourselves, but we're looking forward to a great atmosphere on Saturday at Greenwood Field. It will be a great opportunity and it will be nice for us to be back home and play on our field in front of our fans here in Asheville." – Head Coach Mathes Mennell
Up Next
UNC Asheville men's soccer will next head to the High Country to take on Appalachian State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Boone, N.C.
Players Mentioned
Monday, November 13
Monday, November 06
Monday, November 06
Monday, October 30