University of Delaware Athletics
No. 25 Blue Hens Open up Colonial Athletic Association Play at UNCW
10/3/2014 2:24:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Blue Hens (7-3) are coming off being shutout for the first time this season and have lost three of their last four games heading into Saturday's conference opener.
"UNCW are deservedly No. 14 in the current NCAA RPI, with big victories over Duke, North Carolina and South Carolina under their belt. The lads are aware that this is a tough one,” said University of Delaware head coach Ian Hennessy.
Guillermo Delgado leads the Blue Hens and CAA with seven goals this season, while Ben Asante is the active leader for Delaware with three assists.
UNCW is coming off one of the biggest wins in program history as the Seahawks defeated in-state rival No. 14 North Carolina 4-3.
The Seahawks (8-1-1) have won six straight games and are 4-0 against nationally-ranked opponents this season.
In the preseason polls, Delaware was picked to finish first in the CAA, while UNCW was selected to finish fifth in the conference.
The Seahawks are currently ranked No. 22 in the Top Drawer and College Soccer News polls, and received votes in this week's NSCAA poll.
Jamie Dell leads UNCW with six goals on the year and four different Seahawk players have accrued a team-high two assists.
The CAA is traditionally one of the strongest conferences in the country. The conference has had 12 representatives in the NCAA Tournament in the last four years.
“We have conference play starting up this weekend and CAA season is like a brand new season,” said University of Delaware senior midfielder Kyle Nuel. “We played pretty well in the non-conference and now is when we have to really focus in.”
Saturday's matchup will be the 13th meeting between the Blue Hens and Seahawks. The first meeting between the two programs took place in 2002 and UNCW leads the all-time series 9-3. After losing the first eight games in the series, UD has won three of the last four games, but UNCW won last year's meeting 2-1.
Saturday's game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the UNCW Soccer Stadium.
