The Matchup
- The Greyhounds will travel to face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels to begin their 2023 campaign.
- This will be the fifth meeting between the two programs, and the first since they faced off in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, where the Tar Heels advanced on Penalties.
Quick Hits
- The Greyhounds return just two goal scorers from their 2022 squad;
Danilo Seglio and
Thomas Gray, who both scored one goal each.
- They also return five of their top ten players in minutes played during the 2022 season;
Alex Bobocea,
Thomas Gray,
Richie Nichols,
Sean McEvoy, and
Danilo Seglio.
-
Steve Nichols enters his tenth season at the helm for the Greyhounds, and has ammassad a record of 62-41-28 (41-13-14) during his tenure.
Key Returners
- Despite losing several key players from the 2022 team, the Greyhounds still return a key core.
-
Jake Mayer and
Jordy Luchies return to the back line, after they're 2022 season was cut short due to injury. Along with Mayer and Luchies,
Kyle Dengler,
Thomas Gray, and
Milan Miric return on the back line, where the Greyhounds ranked fourth in the Patriot League in goals allowed during 2022.
Welcome to the Greyhounds
- The Greyhounds welcome 17 newcomers to the roster in 2023, which includes three transfers and 14 Freshman.
-
Rolando Onu (Kent, England) transferred to the Greyhounds after two standout seasons at Eastern Florida State College.
-
Caden Stafford (Cincinnatus, NY) transferred to the Greyhounds after spending one season at Maryland. Stafford was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team after scoring three goals and tallying two assists.
-
Dylan Van der Walt (San Antonio, TX) joins the Greyhounds after spending his freshman season at Rutgers.
- The freshman class features players from five different states and two countries outside of the United States (
Ben Schouten: Canada,
Chris Ogor: England).
Scouting North Carolina
- The Tar Heels are coming off of a 2022 season in which they finished 8-6-5 (2-2-4) on the season, and lost to High Point in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
- They welcome 14 newcomers to their squad in 2023, including five transfers and nine freshman.
- David Bercedo and Vemund Hole Vik were named to the United State Soccer Coaches Players to Watch.
- Akeim Clarke is the leading returning goal-scorer, after tallying four goals in 2022.
- Andrew Cordes, who started in 14 games in goal for the Tar Heels, returns in net, as he went 6-5-3 in 2022, tallying an 1.00 GAA and an 0.689 save percentage.
Quick Notes
- The Greyhounds are 39-11-9 in the Patriot League since the beginning of the 2016 season.
- In 2022, the Greyhounds set a program-high with 8 ties on the season.
- The Greyhounds are 9-0-1 since the beginning of the 2021 season when scoring multiple goals. They are also 9-0 when leading at halftime and 8-3-7 when they outshot opponents since the beginning of 2021.
- The Greyhounds recorded six shutouts during the 2022 season..
- In 2022, the Greyhounds outshot their opponents by a total of 225-158, despite being outscored 19-14 on the season.
- The Greyhounds play an aggresive style of play, one of which has resulted in them being called for the third most yellow cards in the country, with 50 in 2022.
-
Richie Nichols and
Caden Stafford were roommates during their Freshman year at Maryland.
