Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Men's Soccer Preview: North Carolina

The Bulldogs face what will likely be the season’s stiffest challenge tonight as they travel to Chapel Hill to face the North Carolina Tar Heels at Fetzer Field. The Tar Heels enter the regular season ranked number one in the nation. Last year, UNC made it all the way to the national championship game, before falling 1-0 to Maryland. This season, they look prepared to pick up right where they left off. Led by three goals from pre-season All-American midfielder Stephen McCarthy, the Tar Heels dispatched of Georgetown, VCU, and Old Dominion in their pre-season friendlies.

One year ago, the Bulldogs took on UNC in Chapel Hill and played brilliantly in a 2-1 loss. Asheville played most of the game short-handed after a red card in the first half, but still played the Tar Heels evenly until Alex Dixon broke the tie in the 68th minute. Although many of the Bulldogs’ leaders from last season have now graduated, the strong sophomore class played a critical role in last year’s performance and will look to repeat the effort this time around. Goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen recorded four saves in the match last year, and can expect to be tested again tonight. Midfielder Connor Holzinger assisted the Bulldogs’ only goal, and will need to lead the charge on offense, along with standouts Bryan George and Colton Paschall. The Bulldogs are winless in nine total contests against the Tar Heels.

The match can be followed via GameTracker on the Tar Heel Blue athletics website. http://tiny.cc/uncmatch

Go Bulldogs!!

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