GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer team combined excellence and entertainment to defeat Mercer, 3-0, in a Southern Conference contest at the UNCG Soccer Stadium Saturday night.
The Spartans, competing in front of their largest crowd of the season at 1,571, shined in their Homecoming match.
UNCG entered the contest leading the nation in goals. The Spartans added three in the first half to raise their total to 32 on the season.
How It Happened
- UNCG got a pair of goals from Theo Quartey and another from Emmanuel Hagan to extend its winning streak to five matches and unbeaten stretch to seven straight contests.
- Maycol Reyes added two beautiful assists for the Spartans, who posted their seventh clean sheet of the season.
- Both resulted in Quartey goals.
- Quartey, a graduate transfer from Villanova who earned All Big East Freshman Team honors, is having a blast playing for the Spartans.
- Meanwhile, Reyes made the most of his opportunity by using a dazzling display of ball-handling wizardry that resulted in a wicked move in which the Mercer defender fell down attempting to take the ball from him.
- Reyes then threaded a beautiful pass to Quartey, who scored.
Quotable
Quartey on his first goal from Reyes.
"The first one, I saw Maycol had the ball in the corner. Coach has been talking about runs in the box pretty much the whole time and whole season. If we make effective runs in the box, that's where we get a lot of our goals. As soon as I saw Maycol take his defender on, I saw the hole open up, so I made my run and he slopped the ball to me. It was a tap-in goal. So, I was happy to give the team the momentum on a goal that gave us a 2-0 lead. He did all the work."
Quartey on his role and playing for the Spartans.
"If you look at our team, we have 29 great players. Everybody dreams of being part of a team in which everybody is good and has an important role. You come into the game and execute. We aren't focused on who the star is. We just want to win a championship. That mindset is helping everybody. We know in order to get to where we want to get to, we have to play for each other and help one another."
Reyes on the synergy with Quartey and his move that led to UNCG's second goal.
"Just having fun, man. I am super happy to assist on his goals. He's a great guy. A super teammate. Just happy to see him happy. After I got the touch in the corner, everything was moving in slow motion. Every movement was how I pictured it would be. I saw everything in slow motion. After I saw Theo score, it was just an amazing feeling because we needed that goal at that moment."
Inside the Numbers
- Niclas Wild made three saves, including two big ones early in the second half.
- Wild has six shutouts this season and 11 in his career.
- The Spartans have posted six clean sheets in their last seven matches.
- UNCG has outscored opponents, 25-1, in its last seven matches.
- UNCG has outscored its last four Saturday opponents, 21-0.
- Hagan scored his first career goal in the 20th minute to give UNCG a 1-0 lead.
- Hagan is the 13th different UNCG player to score this season.
- Quartey is the third different Spartan with a multi-goal scoring game this year.
- UNCG outshot Mercer, 16-6.
- The Spartans were whistled for eight offsides, two of which nullified goals.
- UNCG played in front of its largest crowd of the season (1,571 spectators).
Final Word
Reyes on the victory
"We knew this was going to be a hard battle because it was one of the most important games of the season and the second one of the conference. We started slow, but we were good enough to win. Coach always tells me to buy into my role, keep my head up and keep working. Theo and I came in from the bench today and was able to able to change the game. I am super happy that we got the win and that's all we wanted.
Up Next
- UNCG visits Furman in another key Southern Conference clash on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.
