Men's Soccer Preview: Catawba

Men’s Soccer action gets underway on Monday as the Bulldogs face off against the Catawba Indians in an exhibition match at Greenwood Field. It will be our first chance to get a look at the 2009 side, which has undergone big changes in the offseason. Although five of the top six scorers from a year ago have graduated, the Bulldogs are loaded with underclassman talent. Leading the charge will be sophomore goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen, who allowed more than two goals in only one match last season, and delivered a shutout against Conference USA power Kentucky. On the offensive end, keep an eye on sophomore Bryan George, the Bulldogs highest returning scorer.

Catawba is also in the midst of a transition, with Liam Farrell arriving from Appalachian State to take over as the new head coach. Alex Koslick, the Indians leading scorer last year, has transferred to UNC Asheville and will be facing off against his old school in the match. Senior forward Andrew Landry and sophomore midfielder Kevin Sorensen, the top two returning scorers for Catawba, will be dangerous. Catawba turned in a disappointing 4-14 record last year to finish 7th in the South Atlantic Conference. The SAC poll has them finishing 7th again this year.

The Bulldogs finished 6th in the Big South with a record of 7-8-4 a year ago, and are projected to finish 7th this year in the conference’s preseason poll. However, 18th year head coach Steve Cornish and the Bulldogs expect to finish much higher. UNC Asheville lost only one match by more than a goal last year, despite a non-conference slate that included a number of major conference opponents. The young Bulldogs might be unproven - other than senior Edwin Wortorsi, whose eligibility is uncertain, every player on the roster is either a freshman or sophomore - but they have the talent to accomplish great things this season.

The match starts at 4pm on Monday - make sure you come out to support the team!

Bryan George

Lassi Hurskainen

Go Dogs!

First Bulldog Games A Success

The school year began a day early for our UNC Asheville student-athletes, as they assembled on Sunday evening to hear Chancellor Ponder speak about sportsmanship and ethical conduct at the annual Welcome Back gathering. The event, which was attended by everyone from academic advisors to announcers, is a requirement of both the Big South and NCAA, but also an important opportunity for incoming and returning student-athletes to get to know one another and their support staff.

This year, some innovations were introduced to provide fun and levity for the Bulldogs, as well as the other attendees. The night was kicked off before the Chancellor’s speech, when all incoming freshmen participated in a skit about the university’s expectations for them as student-athletes. Afterwards, all the athletes were placed on teams for the inaugural Bulldog Games, an event that featured five different competitions, ranging from a dizzy bat race to a scrabble relay. Each team included a mixture of participants from all different sports and grade-levels, which helped to build stronger bonds within the student-athlete community. The Games were made possible by the dedication of more than twenty faculty, staff, and community volunteers who helped out (the cookies from the Biltmore Doubletree were also appreciated). Compliance Director Terri Brne says the event was well received by student-athletes and other participants alike, and she anticipates its continued success in the years to come. For pictures of the festivities, check out the link below:

http://tinyurl.com/nl8qot

Women's Soccer Off to a Great Start

Good Afternoon Asheville Fans!

Since I’ll be writing most of the Bulldog Blog posts during the upcoming year, I want to start out by introducing myself. My name is Jonathan Keeney, and I’m an Asheville native interning in the UNC Asheville athletic department. Although I spent my college years at that other UNC school, I have fond memories of games at the Justice Center as a kid, and I’m excited to spend the year working with and supporting the Bulldogs.

I wrapped up my first day yesterday by catching the second half of the women’s soccer exhibition match against the Eagles of Carson-Newman University. The Bulldogs looked prepared for the new season with a convincing 2-0 victory. Coach Cornish noted on her Facebook page that the Bulldogs generated several good scoring opportunities and the margin of victory could easily have been greater. She also applauded the defensive line for their solid effort in preserving the shutout. Carson-Newman was no small hurdle for the Bulldogs. They enter the season ranked 13th in the nation in Division II, and are the unanimous favorite to win the South Atlantic Conference title. The victory should prepare the Bulldogs well for their season-opening match against ACC heavyweight Clemson on August 28th at Greenwood Field.

It is my plan to update the Bulldog Blog on a daily basis throughout the year, and to ensure that it is a place where Asheville fans can always find new content about their favorite teams. My work with the department promises lots of variety, but I do know that I will be in regular attendance at the soccer, volleyball, and basketball matches this fall. My first priority will be sports-related content - game previews, recaps, and hopefully some interviews and insider information. However, when there is a break in the action, I’ll provide some insight into all that goes on here in the Athletic Department as well. Because my goal is to provide Bulldog fans with a useful and entertaining source of sports information, I am especially interested in making the Bulldog Blog as interactive as possible. In addition to our Ask the Athletic Director feature (in which I strongly encourage you to participate), please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments you might have - for myself, or for anyone else involved in UNC Asheville athletics. I will struggle valiantly to have your questions answered, and I hope to have a regular mailbag or question and answer feature as a part of the blog.

Go Bulldogs!

Welcome Back

So students are arriving on campus. Volleyball, and soccers have all started practice. The first regular season match is two weeks away. It can all only mean one thing...It is time to have our welcome back party. The athletics department will officially welcome back all of our student athletes Sunday night with games and information about the upcoming year. Classes begin on Tuesday and then it is back to business as usual around here.

We still have a lot to do before the 28th when Clemson's women's soccer team provides the opponent for our first video streamed match. It is an ambitious streaming schedule with 10 volleyball matches and seven each for men's and women's soccer. Yours truly will provide play-by-play for each of the fall matches before Brendon takes us into basketball season.

Basketball season tickets are on sale. So make sure you don't miss any of the action at Justice Center.

Its been awhile

OK, The summer is offically over and its back to work. We have been pretty slack with the Bulldog Blog the last month (mostly becuase we have been trying to enjoy a little time away from the office) but now its back to work. We will return to this being a daily blog.

New stuff on uncabulldogs.com...I hope you have noticed the new Ask the AD feature. You can submit your questions for Janet Cone and she will answer a few each week.

I recently got back from Rock Hill, where we picked up a new piece of video equipment from the conference office. Now I just have to figure out how to use it. The video streaming across the league should be a higher quality production with this new equipment. It is one of those things that can do a lot of neat stuff, but it is going to take sometime to learn. In related news, the first video streamed event will be women's soccer taking on Clemson at Greenwood Field on Friday, Aug. 28. Just two weeks until matches begin.

Classes begin next week so I hope you have all enjoyed the summer because now its time for fall sports to begin.

Herb Coman Passes Away at 88

We at UNC Asheville Athletics are sad to report today that a member of our Hall of Fame – Herb Coman – has passed away at the age of 88.

Mr. Coman was an original member of the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. We honored him throughout the 2002-03 basketball season for his contributions to the school.

Mr. Coman reestablished athletics at our predecessor, Asheville-Biltmore College, in 1947. In this day and age, we all think we’re too busy. However, this is what Mr. Coman was doing during his tenure at Asheville-Biltmore. He was hired to be the athletic director, head football coach, head basketball coach, head baseball coach, dean of students, teach 15 hours of science and run the canteen. Now that’s busy.

“Well I had to make a living,” he joked when I asked him about back in 2002. “I didn’t look upon it as work. Every minute of it was a great deal of joy. I really enjoyed my time as Asheville-Biltmore.”

He worked at Asheville-Biltmore from 1947-52 before moving on to numerous other positions over the years. Mr. Coman still had an influence on UNC Asheville as he coached future Athletics Director Tom Hunnicutt in football during his high school days.

In the 1960’s, Mr. Coman worked at Beacon Manufacturing in Black Mountain. He helped another future Bulldog. Eddie Biedenbach was working at the Presbyterian Home for Children in the summer as part of his studies at N.C. State. The future Bulldog head coach had been warned by his professor at N.C. State that there would be some unplanned visits and he better be wearing his socks when he was working.

“I was a little bit of a radical when I was in college because I didn’t like to wear socks,” explained Biedenbach. “My professor who was overseeing the internship warned me that I needed to wear socks in my internship at all time.”

Much to Eddie’s bad luck, he was not wearing socks when the professor visited him one day. Herb Coman came to the rescue.

“Herb put a good word in for me when my professor visited. He calmed the waters for me and allowed me to finish my internship,” added Biedenbach.

Coman remembered Eddie’s sock-less days with fondness in 2003.

“The kids just loved Eddie,” remembered Coman. “He was great with the kids, made them all feel important and gave them a great deal of enjoyment while he was here. Even though he didn’t wear his socks all the time those kids looked up to him.”

When Eddie was interviewing for the head coaching job at UNC Asheville in 1996, he ran across Herb Coman for the first time since the sock-less summer of 1967.

“I was at the Country Club of Asheville with Tom Hunnicutt and all of sudden I see Herb,” said Biedenbach. “The first thing he asked me if I was wearing socks. It was great to see him that night.”

Biedenbach is glad the Bulldogs honored him during the 2002-03 season.

“We can never thank people like Herb Coman enough for what they did for this school right after World War II,” admitted Biedenbach. “We have to remember what they did and what they accomplished. He started sports here again from scratch and made a difference in so many lives.”

Herb Coman will never be forgotten at UNC Asheville.

Tom Smith named new baseball coach

We’ve been quiet for awhile but we’re hoping to get back into the swing of things with fall rapidly approaching.

Congratulations to Tom Smith who was named as UNC Asheville’s new baseball coach this morning. Tom is a legendary high school coach who built an incredible program at T.C. Roberson HS here in Asheville. He impressed everyone in Bulldog Country the past two years as he served as an assistant coach with the program with his work ethic. Coach Smith will work hard to get UNC Asheville baseball moving again. It was impressive to see former major league pitcher Darren Holmes at the press conference this morning. Darren played for Coach Smith at Roberson in the early 80’s and has always given him a great deal of credit for his success.