University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Photo by: Adrian Etheridge
UNC Asheville Men’s Soccer Kicks Off Regular Season Friday at Marshall
08.24.2017 | Men's Soccer
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HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – The UNC Asheville men's soccer team officially opens the 2017 regular season on Friday, Aug. 25, against Marshall at Hoops Family Field.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in the matchup that will be streamed live on CUSA.tv.
BULLDOG BITES
About UNC Asheville
Mathes Mennell is starting his third season in charge of UNC Asheville men's soccer in the 2017 season.
In his two seasons in charge of UNC Asheville men's soccer, Mennell has transformed the program into a Big South contender with the Bulldogs just missing out on the 2016 league regular season title on the final day of conference play last season.
Scouting Marshall
With the retirement of legendary head coach Bob Gray at the end of last season, the 2017 season opens with the Thundering Herd under the mentorship of a different head coach for the first time in over 20 years. Chris Grassie took over the reins of the Marshall program this offseason after spending the last six seasons in charge at the University of Charleston where he guided his Golden Eagles to three straight NCAA Division II Final Four appearances, including two national runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2016.
Picked to finish eighth in the 2017 Conference USA preseason poll, the Thundering Herd defeated Big South preseason favorite Radford, 5-1, in their first exhibition last week before tying No. 19 Coastal Carolina, 1-1, in their second and final tune up match.
All-Time Series
UNC Asheville and Marshall will be meeting for the first time since the 2012 season in the 2017 season opener. The Thundering Herd own the all-time series lead at 4-1 with the Bulldogs' lone win in the series coming in a 3-1 victory in Asheville on Nov. 5, 1992.
Season Openers
UNC Asheville is 1-1 in season openers under Mennell, who won his inaugural regular season game as head coach of the Bulldogs with a 2-0 win over USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. on Friday, Aug. 28, 2015.
Preseason Predictions
UNC Asheville men's soccer was picked to finish seventh in the 2017 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Preseason Poll. Defending league champion Radford was tabbed to finish first, while High Point was picked second and Liberty was third in the preseason tally.
Liberty junior forward Tresor Mbuyu was selected as the Big South Preseason Attacking Player of the Year, while Radford senior defender Fraser Colmer and High Point center back Johnny Fenwick tied for preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors.
UNC Asheville senior defender Zack Compton finished in third in the preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting. He had one first-place vote.
Quotables
What are your overall thoughts about your team entering the opening match of the regular season?
"Overall, I think I'm probably pleased with our preseason. Would I have liked to seen more goals in the exhibitions? Sure. Would I have liked to see us win? For sure, but I think there were some really good positives that came out of those games. I think that one of the things that preseason did cement is that I thought we were going to be pretty deep and we are. Now, the challenge is going to be how to use that depth as a strength and not get bogged down in that we've got a lot of really good players. That's always a challenge any time you start the season with a lot of talent across all four classes.
"You want to get them all meaningful minutes, but at the same time you don't want to disrupt flow. At every position all the way through the team we are three-deep. We really are, and that's a place we've never really been before. It's a great place to be. Certainly, with the graduation of last year's class we graduated some really good players and some really experienced players. We also graduated a lot of goals and assists, so it's also finding out who is going to pick up the load and whether it's going to be one guy or it's going to be by committee. I think we graduated 20-plus points, so we've got to come up with 20 points and that's the fun part is to see who is going to get those." – Head Coach Mathes Mennell
On what to expect from Marshall under first-year head coach
"I'm very familiar with Chris Grassie. He's great and he's got a great track record of success. He doing a really good job and Marshall is certainly a great sports school. It's a really good school, but it's also a good sports school with a long history of being good, so I think they'll get it going. I think it's a great game for us against a team from a great conference. Also too, it's opening weekend and in NCAA soccer you look over the past 50 years, you just never know (what's going to happen). Teams that are supposed to win by a bunch of goals lose. Teams that are supposed to lose, win. Games that are supposed to be goal fests end up 0-0. Games that are supposed to be 0-0 end up being 7-6. The hard part for us is keeping focused and getting to the soccer part as fast as we possibly can. Overall, I like where we are. There are some parts I would like for us to be further along in our process, but then there is other parts of the process where we're well ahead of where I thought we would be in terms of pace and that's great. The one thing that has been awesome has been the team's energy, commitment and enthusiasm. It's been fantastic. That goes a long way for accomplishing what you want to do." – Head Coach Mathes Mennell
Up Next
UNC Asheville will follow up its season opener against Marshall by next traveling out to the West Coast for two games with the Bulldogs first facing off against a program that Mennell knows all too well in Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference. Mennell spent 16 years at Loyola Marymount where he helped lead the Lions to two WCC titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances. The Bulldogs and Lions are set to square off at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST) in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 1.
The second match of the West Coast swing for UNC Asheville will see the Bulldogs take on UC Irvine of the Big West Conference at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST) on Sunday, Sept. 3.
UNC Asheville's regular season home opener will see the Bulldogs battle the Wildcats of Davidson on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The matchup against the Atlantic 10 foe is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Greenwood Field.
Live Video Link
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – The UNC Asheville men's soccer team officially opens the 2017 regular season on Friday, Aug. 25, against Marshall at Hoops Family Field.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in the matchup that will be streamed live on CUSA.tv.
BULLDOG BITES
About UNC Asheville
Mathes Mennell is starting his third season in charge of UNC Asheville men's soccer in the 2017 season.
In his two seasons in charge of UNC Asheville men's soccer, Mennell has transformed the program into a Big South contender with the Bulldogs just missing out on the 2016 league regular season title on the final day of conference play last season.
Scouting Marshall
With the retirement of legendary head coach Bob Gray at the end of last season, the 2017 season opens with the Thundering Herd under the mentorship of a different head coach for the first time in over 20 years. Chris Grassie took over the reins of the Marshall program this offseason after spending the last six seasons in charge at the University of Charleston where he guided his Golden Eagles to three straight NCAA Division II Final Four appearances, including two national runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2016.
Picked to finish eighth in the 2017 Conference USA preseason poll, the Thundering Herd defeated Big South preseason favorite Radford, 5-1, in their first exhibition last week before tying No. 19 Coastal Carolina, 1-1, in their second and final tune up match.
All-Time Series
UNC Asheville and Marshall will be meeting for the first time since the 2012 season in the 2017 season opener. The Thundering Herd own the all-time series lead at 4-1 with the Bulldogs' lone win in the series coming in a 3-1 victory in Asheville on Nov. 5, 1992.
Season Openers
UNC Asheville is 1-1 in season openers under Mennell, who won his inaugural regular season game as head coach of the Bulldogs with a 2-0 win over USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. on Friday, Aug. 28, 2015.
Preseason Predictions
UNC Asheville men's soccer was picked to finish seventh in the 2017 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Preseason Poll. Defending league champion Radford was tabbed to finish first, while High Point was picked second and Liberty was third in the preseason tally.
Liberty junior forward Tresor Mbuyu was selected as the Big South Preseason Attacking Player of the Year, while Radford senior defender Fraser Colmer and High Point center back Johnny Fenwick tied for preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors.
UNC Asheville senior defender Zack Compton finished in third in the preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting. He had one first-place vote.
Quotables
What are your overall thoughts about your team entering the opening match of the regular season?
"Overall, I think I'm probably pleased with our preseason. Would I have liked to seen more goals in the exhibitions? Sure. Would I have liked to see us win? For sure, but I think there were some really good positives that came out of those games. I think that one of the things that preseason did cement is that I thought we were going to be pretty deep and we are. Now, the challenge is going to be how to use that depth as a strength and not get bogged down in that we've got a lot of really good players. That's always a challenge any time you start the season with a lot of talent across all four classes.
"You want to get them all meaningful minutes, but at the same time you don't want to disrupt flow. At every position all the way through the team we are three-deep. We really are, and that's a place we've never really been before. It's a great place to be. Certainly, with the graduation of last year's class we graduated some really good players and some really experienced players. We also graduated a lot of goals and assists, so it's also finding out who is going to pick up the load and whether it's going to be one guy or it's going to be by committee. I think we graduated 20-plus points, so we've got to come up with 20 points and that's the fun part is to see who is going to get those." – Head Coach Mathes Mennell
On what to expect from Marshall under first-year head coach
"I'm very familiar with Chris Grassie. He's great and he's got a great track record of success. He doing a really good job and Marshall is certainly a great sports school. It's a really good school, but it's also a good sports school with a long history of being good, so I think they'll get it going. I think it's a great game for us against a team from a great conference. Also too, it's opening weekend and in NCAA soccer you look over the past 50 years, you just never know (what's going to happen). Teams that are supposed to win by a bunch of goals lose. Teams that are supposed to lose, win. Games that are supposed to be goal fests end up 0-0. Games that are supposed to be 0-0 end up being 7-6. The hard part for us is keeping focused and getting to the soccer part as fast as we possibly can. Overall, I like where we are. There are some parts I would like for us to be further along in our process, but then there is other parts of the process where we're well ahead of where I thought we would be in terms of pace and that's great. The one thing that has been awesome has been the team's energy, commitment and enthusiasm. It's been fantastic. That goes a long way for accomplishing what you want to do." – Head Coach Mathes Mennell
Up Next
UNC Asheville will follow up its season opener against Marshall by next traveling out to the West Coast for two games with the Bulldogs first facing off against a program that Mennell knows all too well in Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference. Mennell spent 16 years at Loyola Marymount where he helped lead the Lions to two WCC titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances. The Bulldogs and Lions are set to square off at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST) in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 1.
The second match of the West Coast swing for UNC Asheville will see the Bulldogs take on UC Irvine of the Big West Conference at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST) on Sunday, Sept. 3.
UNC Asheville's regular season home opener will see the Bulldogs battle the Wildcats of Davidson on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The matchup against the Atlantic 10 foe is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Greenwood Field.
Players Mentioned
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