University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men’s Soccer announces 2022 schedule
07.11.2022 | Men's Soccer
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville Men's Soccer coach, Mick Giordano, announced the 2022 schedule on Monday.
The Bulldogs will have three preseason games, nine regular-season home games, eight road contests with eight Big South fixtures among the seventeen regular-season games. The three preseason games along with the rest of the home fixtures will be played at Greenwood Soccer Field at UNC Asheville.
Asheville opens the regular season on Thursday, August 25, visiting top-30 ranked UNC Greensboro. Three days later, the Bulldogs have their first home game against Georgia Southern. Moving into September, the Bulldogs host ETSU before heading just south for a Labor Day clash with the reigning NCAA Division I National Champion Clemson Tigers. The Bulldogs will then welcome Belmont Bruins to Greenwood on Saturday, September 10. The fixture against Belmont will be the Men's Soccer annual "Be The Match" fundraiser game.
Asheville will take on newly DI-classified Queens University at Greenwood Field, before a pair of SoCon teams with games away to Furman and home to Wofford. This will set the Bulldogs up for their conference opener against Gardner-Webb on Saturday, September 24. The match against the Running Bulldogs will be a doubleheader with UNC Asheville Women's Soccer, and will also serve as Bulldog Soccer Alumni Weekend.
The Bulldogs have a return match at the College of Charleston on Tuesday, September, which closes out a busy September. Moving into October and the thick of Big South play, Asheville hosts Longwood followed by trips to Presbyterian and Campbell. Returning home on Saturday, October 15 the Bulldogs will play Winthrop at Greenwood. The Bulldogs will finish their road trips with visits to High Point and Radford on consecutive weekends. USC Upstate will visit Greenwood Field on Wednesday, November 2 to complete the regular season fixtures.
The Big South Semifinals take place on Sunday, November 6, with the finals being played Saturday, November 12 as the higher seeds will host each fixture.
New Year, New Squad
The 2022 squad will have a much different look than 2021, with 17 newcomers on the roster. Seven of those seventeen come with collegiate experience, transferring in from Oregon State, UAB, UNC Wilmington, San Diego, Stetson and Cedarville. The 10 freshmen hail from three countries (United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), and four different states (North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and Kentucky).
Familiar Faces
Following the 2021 Spring, Giordano – a 2013 graduate and captain of the Bulldog program – was named head coach of his alma mater. Returning on staff from Fall 2021 will be Assistant Coach and Goalkeepers' Coach, Ronnie Hreha. In January of 2022, Giordano added Bulldog alum and two-year captain, Joe LaCasto to the coaching staff as his top assistant. A California native, LaCasto was a four-year starter for the Bulldogs and spent the last two seasons coaching at Mars Hill University while earning his Master's Degree in Management under the guidance of South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year, Gregg Munn.
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