University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville Travels to Mercer for Second Exhibition of Preseason Preparations
08.13.2018 | Men's Soccer
MACON, Ga. – The UNC Asheville men's soccer team will next travel to Mercer for its second of three exhibitions.
UNC Asheville and Mercer are scheduled to kick things off at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 14, at Bear Field.
The Bulldogs are excited for the opportunity after some letdowns, but also, most importantly, a lot of positives after their opening exhibition at Northern Kentucky this past Saturday.
"After watching the tape, we had some moments of pretty good soccer," UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell said. "We got let down on set pieces, which is organization and getting familiar with the group, but it's frustrating because our guys have played enough soccer to know you shouldn't do that kind of stuff, but at the same time it's pretty understandable."
Mennell and his team know that this is all just a part of the process to get ready for the 2018 regular season.
"As I keep mentioning, we are right about where I thought we would be at this point," Mennell mentioned. "We had a decent training today. I think (the grind) of camp has set in a little bit, so you're battling fatigue and all of those types of things. Our guys are pretty mentally tough and are kind of riding that wave and every team in the country has that going on right now. The opportunity to go and play a game is certainly a welcome respite from the grind of training camp."
BULLDOG BITES
Bullish About the Bulldogs
UNC Asheville men's soccer received one first-place vote in the 2018 Big South men's soccer preseason poll.
Follow it Live
You can follow all of the action in the exhibition via live stats HERE.
About Mercer
The Bears are the reigning back-to-back Southern Conference tournament champions. Mercer received votes in the 2018 preseason United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's Preseason Ranking. The Bears return 13 student-athletes from last year's squad that helped lead the program to its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Quotable
"Mercer will be a good side. We have kind of mirrored the start of our preseason to the start of the regular season with a Horizon League and then play a Southern Conference team both on the road. Mercer will be a good test. They've had a good run of form the last couple of years and Brad Ruzzo the head coach has done a great job. They're very athletic and cause a lot of problems. It will be a great test for us. Obviously they are a little bit of a new look as we are, so it will be a good contest. It will be warm down in Macon and that is kind of by design to add some adversity and some obstacles, but I think the guys are excited to get right back in a game after the mistakes we made during the last exhibition as we feel we left a little bit on the table, so we're anxious to get right back out there, improve on those and continue moving forward." – UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell
Up Next - Asheville Appetizer
UNC Asheville men's soccer will open up its home games at Greenwood Field at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, by playing host to Georgia Southern of the Sun Belt for its final exhibition match at 6 p.m. The exhibition match will serve as the Asheville Appetizer home-opening event for the Bulldogs. Fans are encouraged to come out and try some free samples from a handful of our local Asheville restaurants, such as Asheville Pizza & Brewing, Bad Happy, Twisted Laurel, Wild Wing Café, The Hop and much more.
UNC Asheville and Mercer are scheduled to kick things off at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 14, at Bear Field.
The Bulldogs are excited for the opportunity after some letdowns, but also, most importantly, a lot of positives after their opening exhibition at Northern Kentucky this past Saturday.
"After watching the tape, we had some moments of pretty good soccer," UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell said. "We got let down on set pieces, which is organization and getting familiar with the group, but it's frustrating because our guys have played enough soccer to know you shouldn't do that kind of stuff, but at the same time it's pretty understandable."
Mennell and his team know that this is all just a part of the process to get ready for the 2018 regular season.
"As I keep mentioning, we are right about where I thought we would be at this point," Mennell mentioned. "We had a decent training today. I think (the grind) of camp has set in a little bit, so you're battling fatigue and all of those types of things. Our guys are pretty mentally tough and are kind of riding that wave and every team in the country has that going on right now. The opportunity to go and play a game is certainly a welcome respite from the grind of training camp."
BULLDOG BITES
Bullish About the Bulldogs
UNC Asheville men's soccer received one first-place vote in the 2018 Big South men's soccer preseason poll.
Follow it Live
You can follow all of the action in the exhibition via live stats HERE.
About Mercer
The Bears are the reigning back-to-back Southern Conference tournament champions. Mercer received votes in the 2018 preseason United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's Preseason Ranking. The Bears return 13 student-athletes from last year's squad that helped lead the program to its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Quotable
"Mercer will be a good side. We have kind of mirrored the start of our preseason to the start of the regular season with a Horizon League and then play a Southern Conference team both on the road. Mercer will be a good test. They've had a good run of form the last couple of years and Brad Ruzzo the head coach has done a great job. They're very athletic and cause a lot of problems. It will be a great test for us. Obviously they are a little bit of a new look as we are, so it will be a good contest. It will be warm down in Macon and that is kind of by design to add some adversity and some obstacles, but I think the guys are excited to get right back in a game after the mistakes we made during the last exhibition as we feel we left a little bit on the table, so we're anxious to get right back out there, improve on those and continue moving forward." – UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell
Up Next - Asheville Appetizer
UNC Asheville men's soccer will open up its home games at Greenwood Field at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, by playing host to Georgia Southern of the Sun Belt for its final exhibition match at 6 p.m. The exhibition match will serve as the Asheville Appetizer home-opening event for the Bulldogs. Fans are encouraged to come out and try some free samples from a handful of our local Asheville restaurants, such as Asheville Pizza & Brewing, Bad Happy, Twisted Laurel, Wild Wing Café, The Hop and much more.
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