GREENSBORO, N.C. – Behind a pair of goals from Angel Bacho, the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer team dismissed Radford, 5-0, in a non-conference match at the UNCG Soccer Stadium Saturday night.
The Spartans were diligent and dominant in extending their unbeaten streak to three matches.
Also scoring for UNCG were Theo Collomb, Micah Albert, and Fernando Garcia. Joey Skinner had a pair of assists. Chase Gilley and Emmanuel Hagan also had assists for UNCG, which raised its record to 4-2-1 overall.
"So pleased for my guys and for their performance tonight," UNCG head coach Chris Rich said. "They were outstanding tonight. It was a complete professional performance. We played 23 players, which is a lot. A credit to the guys who started and do very well and give opportunities to the other guys. Very good performance by all players. Happy to get a clean sheet and score five goals. I think it creates good momentum moving forward."
With Radford in the rearview mirror, the C-word can finally be uttered.
In the "one-game-at-a-time" mindset of Rich and his talented staff that consists of Jaime Ibarra and Garrett McLaughlin, the only opponent that mattered was Radford. So what, if everybody else was peeking ahead to Tuesday, Sept. 21 and a home showdown with one of the nation's elite programs that's currently ranked second in the country.
Rich would have none of it.
If anybody dared mentioned the C-word this week, he may have bodyslammed somebody. OK, that may be a bit harsh, but you get the point. He wanted his Spartans to focus on Radford.
Mission accomplished.
So, is it safe to mention the C-word, yet?
"Now, we can talk about Clemson," a smiling Rich said. "We haven't brought up Clemson one time until now. It's going to be a fantastic opportunity for us. Clemson is the best team in the country, in my opinion, so far. There's no question that we will have a tough challenge ahead of us. We are super excited to host them at our place. To have a team like Clemson come into our stadium, we're going to be excited for sure."
Inside the Numbers
- UNCG has scored 11 goals in its last two Saturday contests.
- Collomb has 14 career goals after his sixth tally of the season.
- This was Bacho's first career two-goal outing.
- Niclas Wild notched his third consecutive clean sheet, the fourth this season and ninth of his career.
- UNCG hasn't allowed a goal in 290 minutes.
- The Spartans outshot the Highlanders 24-2.
- Seven Spartans had at least two shots with Collomb leading the way with five.
- UNCG didn't allow a corner kick.
- Albert tallied his first goal since 2019 on a penalty kick.
Quotable
Wild on the victory and upcoming match against Clemson.
"Preparation starts now with good rest, good recovery, and good food. It's a quick turnaround for sure. Clemson is one of the biggest programs in the nation and we want to perform as well as did in this game. We want to compete against them on a high level and improve each game. Everyone knows there was a big game upcoming, but we also knew we had to take care of business tonight and that's what we did."
Up Next
- UNCG hosts Clemson Tuesday at 7 p.m.
- First 150 students receive vuvuzelas, courtesy of The Reserve student apartments.
- "G" out Clemson - asking all fans to wear GREY to the game and match our team on the field.
- First 100 students will receive a grey UNCG t-shirt.
- Kona Ice and The Pearl Kitchen food truck will be in attendance.
- One fan will have a chance to win a $100 Taco Mama gift card at halftime in the Taco Mama Crossbar Challenge.
- The Fusion Soccer program will be in attendance.
- Gates open at 6 p.m.
