University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Appalachian State
Women’s soccer opens up season at Appalachian State Thursday
08.18.2021 | Women's Soccer
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville women's soccer team opens up its season on Thursday, traveling to Appalachian State to face the Mountaineers at 7:00 p.m. The match was originally scheduled to take place in Asheville, but was moved to Boone due to rain from Hurricane Fred.
New Beginnings
Thursday's opener will also be the first of the Andy McNab era, who was named head coach of the women's soccer in May. McNab comes to Asheville after spending two seasons as the head coach of Barton College, going 16-8-2 during his tenure.
Familiar Faces
Alongside McNab is a familiar face to Bulldog fans, as Bella Iorio (2019) was named assistant coach in July. Iorio worked as an assistant at Concord before joining McNab at Barton. In all, Asheville returns 16 players from last season, which was played in spring of 2021 due to COVID. The Bulldogs, who went 2-7 against conference-only foes, return goal scorers Madison Carter, Gillian Oyos and Alice Walker, while Bronwyn Luitweiler and Courtney O'Malley, who combined for seven starts and nine games played in net, are back for their senior seasons.
New Additions
The Fall 2021 Bulldog squad features 12 newcomers, comprised of 10 freshmen and two transfers. The new group of players hails from seven different states and two different countries (Australia).
Scouting the Mountaineers
Like Asheville, Thursday will be the official season opener for Appalachian State, who has split its exhibitions vs. UNCG and ETSU. Appalachian State played a total of 18 games last season, with14 of its contests in the fall. In all, the Mountaineers went 6-11-1, with its last win coming against Davidson on February 25 (1-0). Appalachian State returns eight of 11 starters and five of its top eight goal scorers from last season.
How to Follow
While there will not be a live video stream, you can follow the live stats here.
