The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
No. 21 UAB Hosts Montevallo Thursday Night
8/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 15, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The No. 21 UAB men's soccer team will play host to instate foe Montevallo in an exhibition match Thursday night. The Blazers and Falcons are set to kickoff at 7 p.m. at West Campus Field.
The Blazers, who are ranked as high as No. 20 in the nation (College Soccer News) in the preseason polls, are coming off a 1-1 draw against No. 7 Louisville last Saturday night. Thursday night's contest will be the first game of the 2012 season for the Falcons.
UAB, the defending Conference USA regular season champion, returns eight starters and 13 letterwinners off last season's 13-5-3 squad. Leading the list of returnees is preseason all-conference honoree Reed Matte, along with 2011 all-conference performers Mladen Lemez(second team), Darion Copeland (all-freshman) and Diego Navarrete(all-freshman).
The Blazers earned a spot in last year's NCAA Tournament, securing the No. 11 overall national seed and bye into the second round of play, where they fell to eventual national runners-up Charlotte.
Montevallo is coming off a 12-5-4 campaign a year ago in which the earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament. Junior forward Shane Howard leads the list of returnees, after leading the squad in goals (8) and points (18) a year ago.
