Saturday, August 23, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (August 23, 2008) - The ETSU men's soccer was defeated by UNC Asheville in its second and final exhibition game of the season Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd at Memorial Stadium in Asheville, N.C., 3-1.

UNC Asheville jumped out to a big lead in the first half scoring three goals. Caleb Alexander scored an unassisted goal in the 3^rd minute to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead.

Jake Hagedorn added another goal in the 30^th minute, and Branden Lassen deflected a ball past the ETSU keeper in the 40^th minute to make the score 3-0. Asheville outshot the Bucs 10-2 in the first half.

ETSU bounced back in the second half as they made adjustments to the Bulldog pressure. Freshman Aliyu Surgi (LaVergne, Tenn.) put the Bucs on the board in the second half scoring off of a free kick to cut the Asheville lead to 3-1.

ETSU created a couple more opportunities as Surgi had two more chances that that could have tied the game. The Bucs also had a goal taken away by an off-sides call late in the match.

The Bucs were outshot in the game 14-10, but had an 8-4 shot advantage in the second half. ETSU also had an advantage in corners, 5-4. Defensively Cade Jones (Athens, Ga.) led the Bucs with five saves.

The Bucs are back in action Friday at 5 p.m. as they will host Appalachain State in the inaugural season home opener.

Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on men's soccer or any of the other Buccaneer athletic teams.