UNC Asheville will return home to Greenwood Field on Saturday after a four match road trip, but a difficult challenge awaits against Coastal Carolina. The Bulldogs (6-8-2, 2-3-1) won at Radford and VMI before dropping consecutive matches to Winthrop and Gardner-Webb, and are now fifth place in the Big South. Coastal Carolina (5-2-6, 2-0-3) is undefeated in conference play and has not lost a match since a Sept. 11 contest with Georgetown, yet the Chanticleers are only fourth in the conference thanks to three draws.
The Chanticleers’ most impressive conference win was a 3-1 victory over Gardner-Webb on Oct. 7. Gardner-Webb defeated UNC Asheville on Wednesday and is currently second in the conference. Coastal has also played both Liberty and High Point, two of the league’s finest, to scoreless draws this season. The Chanticleers defeated the Bulldogs twice last season, first in the regular season and again in the Big South tournament. Both matches were 1-0 decisions, and both game-winning goals were scored by Coastal’s Robert Hunter (now a senior). Coastal has come out on top in its last six contests with UNC Asheville, dating back to 2004.
This year, Coastal Carolina has had several different contributors on offense. Junior Matt Schroeder leads the team in conference goals, while senior James Stapleton and junior Riley Phelps are the overall goal-scoring leaders with five apiece. Defensively, Coastal is an imposing foe. The Chanticleers have allowed only two goals in five conference matches, mostly owing to the stellar goalkeeping of Scott Angevine. The sophomore leads the Big South in goals against average (0.35), save percentage (.913), and shutouts (3). Finding a way around Angevine will be the biggest challenge for the Bulldogs on Sunday.
Freshman Zachary Odum remains the Bulldogs’ top scorer, despite starting in only one match this season. Odum added an assist to his total in the loss to Gardner-Webb when he found Alex Koslick for the sophomore’s first career goal. Lassi Hurskainen’s statistics have suffered in conference play, where he ranks eighth in goals against (1.58) and sixth in save percentage (.800). This owes mostly to the barrage of shots the sophomore has faced – he still leads the conference in saves per game at 6.67.
The match kicks off at 2 p.m., and is a critical contest for the Bulldogs as they fight for Big South tournament seeding. Admission is free, so come out and support the team!
Go Bulldogs!!!
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