Thursday, September 29, 2011

• The 2011 Atlantic Sun Conference season kicks off this weekend with all nine teams in action. USC Upstate and Mercer both host two matches to jumpstart the season, while ETSU, Stetson and Belmont all have one home match. Last season, FGCU captured the regular-season crown with a perfect 9-0 record, while the Buccaneers and Hatters finished second and third, respectively.

• Since the beginning of the 2008 season, two teams have stood out the most in league play. FGCU and Stetson own the two best records during that span with the Eagles earning 55 points (18-8-1) in the past three seasons, while the Hatters are right on their heels with 54 points (17-7-3). The two teams are slated to face one another on Friday in Deland to start their conference schedules.

• With three-straight wins in conference openers, Mercer owns the longest streak in the A-Sun. The Bears have outscored their opponents 11-2 in those three matches and open this year with North Florida on Thursday at 7 p.m. ETSU, FGCU and Stetson are next with two-game unbeaten streaks in league openers.

• In 2010, Belmont's Nico Olsak led the A-Sun in points during league play with 11 on four goals and three assists as a freshman. In total, seven student-athletes recorded at least 10 points in conference games, while four of them return for this season. The list includes; FGCU's Josey Portillo (10P; 3G,4A), FGCU's Deion Jones (10P; 4G, 2A) and Lipscomb's Garret Pettis (10P; 4G, 2A).

A-Sun Active Career Points Leaders
Rank	Player (Team)	Points	Goals	Assists
1.	Garret Pettis (Lipscomb)	61	27	7
2.	Brandon Tarr (Belmont)	49	20	9
3.	Gonzalo de Mujica (Stetson)	46	15	16
4.	Will Moorad (Belmont)	45	17	11
5.	Aaron Schoenfeld (ETSU)	40	16	8
6.	Jonathan Mendoza (Stetson)	38	12	14
7.	Dan Meacock (Belmont)	33	15	3
8.	Cristian Raudales (FGCU)	32	14	4

• With FGCU's 2-1 win at No. 8 UCF and ETSU's 0-0 tie with No. 23 Furman on Sunday, the A-Sun's number of positive results against top-25 ranked opponents grew to six on the year. The Bucs also owns victories against No. 14 William & Mary and No. 24 UNC Greensboro, while the Eagles earned a tie vs. No. 24 Portland. Adding to the list is Stetson with a 3-2 win against No. 15 Penn State. Eight non-conference games remain in the composite schedule.

• With his sixth shutout of the season coming against Furman on Sept. 25, ETSU goalkeeper Ryan Coulter moved into a tie for tenth most shutouts in a single season in A-Sun history. Currently, Coulter is tied with 12 others and with one more he will jump into a tie for eighth. The single-season record is nine shutouts, which has been reached twice (1996, 2008).

• In the most recent NCAA Statistical report, the A-Sun lays claim to six of the top-100 top scoring offenses. Stetson earned the top spot amongst A-Sun teams at No. 20 with an average of two goals per game. Belmont (55th; 1.67), Mercer (58th; 1.63) and FGCU (71st; 1.52) followed the Hatters in the category. ETSU (81st; 1.5) and Jacksonville (98th; 1.38) rounded out the A-Sun teams. On the flipside, three A-Sun teams appeared in the top-100 for best scoring defenses led by ETSU (40th; 0.81) and followed by FGCU (72nd; 1.07) and USC Upstate (83rd; 1.17).

Follow the Atlantic Sun on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.