Men’s Soccer Holds First Practice Of The 2012 Season

"The first day of practice was fantastic," Maullin said. "The first practice is always good as the guys are sky high. I just challenged them to keep that enthusiasm the same level in week 12, 13 or 14 as it is in week one. Also, we look to have a very deep group of players, probably our deepest team yet."

 
UNCG is coming off a 10-8-2 overall record and a 5-1-1 mark in Southern Conference play. The Spartans posted seven wins at home last year, notching a 7-3-2 record at UNCG Soccer Stadium.

 
The Spartans return 19 members from last season's team, including four members that were honored on the postseason All-SoCon teams. Senior forward Hakan Ilhan (Stuttgart, Germany/Univ. of Stuttgart) leads the way after picking up First Team All-SoCon honors last fall when he scored a team-high 25 points (10 goals, 5 assists). Senior goalkeeper Peyton Ford (Jamestown, N.C./Southwest Guilford) boasted second team all-league honors last year when he recorded an 0.70 goals against average on the year with nine shutouts.

 
Also returning for UNCG is a pair of Southern Conference All-Freshmen Team honorees in Austin Miller (High Point, N.C./High Point Central) and David Reittinger (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest). Miller scored six goals and dished out three assists to rank sixth in the conference in scoring while Reittinger started all 18 games and posted two game-winning goals.

 
The Spartans open play with three exhibition games beginning August 16 when they host Guilford College at 7 p.m. UNCG will also play Catawba (Aug. 18) and travel to Winthrop (Aug. 20) for exhibition contests.

 
- UNCG -