SPARTANBURG, S.C— The USC Upstate Men's soccer team will be back in action against UNC Asheville in a Saturday night showdown at County University Soccer Stadium.
USC Upstate (1-5) and UNC Asheville (1-6-1) will face off for the 8th time in school history. The Spartans lead the all-time series (4-2-1). The last game played against the Bulldogs was a 2-0 road victory for the Spartans in Asheville. The Spartans are undefeated in away games at UNC Asheville but have a 1-2 record at home against the Bulldogs.
The Spartans are coming off a strong performance against Mercer but fell just short in a heartbreaking loss in double overtime. This is the third time this season the Spartans have fall in overtime.
Pascal Corvino (Saludecio, Italy) had a career-high game against Mercer by netting a pair of goals for the Spartans. Not only did this strong performance result in a career-high in goals for Corvino, the two goals now make Corvino the team's top goal scorer this season. The two goals were assisted by
Mario Arrocha (Madrid, Spain) and
Javier Torres (Benalmadena, Spain).
This was a night of career highs for the Spartans as
Luca Bulfon (Rivignano-Teor, Italy) would put together a great game totaling eight saves. The eight saves proved to be a career high for Bulfon.
UNC Asheville started their season off strong with two early wins over Marshall (2-1) and VMI (2-1) but have found themselves in a rough position at (1-6-1) after losing their 5th straight game to Appalachian State on Wednesday (0-1). The Bulldogs top goal scorer is Tyson Hitchman who has a total of 14 shots and 4 goals this season.
The UNC Asheville goalkeeper is Jarrett Payne who has played in every game and has played in all but 10 minutes in the net for the Bulldogs. Payne has played in a total of 730 minutes and has totaled 62 saves on the season with a GAA average of 2.25. The Bulldogs are coached by Mathes Mennell in his fifth season as the head coach.
At the halftime break the USC Upstate Athletic Department will be honoring several Hall of Fame members at midfield. Tickets for the Beer Garden are still available for purchase online (
bit.ly/USCUFallBeer) and will be $20 at the gate tomorrow evening.
USC Upstate and UNC Asheville will kick things off tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at County University Soccer Stadium following the Women's soccer game. Links to the live stats and video stream of the game can be found at
www.upstatespartans.com.
Follow USC Upstate men's soccer on Facebook (UpstateAthletics), Twitter (@UpstateMSoccer), Instagram (@upstatespartans) and YouTube (USCUpstateAthletics).
