Men’s Soccer Home Opener Thursday
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College men’s soccer team will finally make its 2013 home debut on Winton Hill Field this Thursday, Sept. 12th, at 4 p.m. against Mount Aloysius College. The Eagles currently stand at 4-0 and did not surrender a goal until the second half of their fourth contest.
By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College men's soccer team will finally make its 2013 home debut on Winton Hill Field this Thursday, Sept. 12th, at 4 p.m. against Mount Aloysius College. The Eagles currently stand at 4-0 and did not surrender a goal until the second half of their fourth contest.
"The guys are really excited to play at home," said head coach Dan Dubois. "We train on grass and to go on the road and play four straight games all on turf – it's going to be nice to come home and have the game feel like the way we train. They are excited to play in front of our fans."
Juniata has been getting offensive support from a bunch of different Eagles. The nine goals scored so far by Juniata have come from five different players. Freshman Aaron Kulig (Green Lane, Pa./Boyertown) has a team-high three goals in three starts to rank him fourth in the Landmark Conference in goals per game. Sophomore Dylan Thompson (Broomfield, Colo./Peak to Peak Charter) is tied for first in the conference and holds sole possession of 18th in the country in total assists.
Mount Aloysius is coming off a 1-0 win over Penn State Harrisburg and currently sits at 2-2 overall. While the Mounties lost last years leading scorer Daniel Oliveira, they are returning four upper classmen from the 2012 squad including starting goalkeeper Jamie Greenwood, who 2012 finished with a solid .750 save percentage. To bolster the teams' performance, second-year head coach Tyler Sheikh has brought in 15 freshmen. Mount Aloysius finished last year 3-14 overall with a 1-8 record in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC).
"Their coach is good – he knows what he's doing," said Dubois of Mount Aloysius. "They've had some really close results this year which is good. It's going to be a competitive game. They fought us pretty hard last year. We're expecting it to be another hard fought game. The coach is going to have them well organized and they're going to have a ton of energy. We are going to have to match the energy and stick to our game plan."
The Eagles faced the Mounties in 2012 and finished with a 2-0 win for their fifth consecutive win that year. Senior Dane Azeles (Duncansville, Pa./Hollidaysburg) scored the first goal of the match just 13 minutes into the contest. The Eagles will look for Azeles, and fellow senior Andy Blunk (State College, Pa./State College), and connect with Kulig and Thompson upfront to lead the Juniata attack. Blunk has two goals in his four starts this season.
The Eagles also play at home this weekend and take part in a doubleheader against King's College (Pa.) this Saturday, Sept. 14th with the Juniata women's side playing 1 p.m. and the men kicking off at 3:30 p.m.
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