ROSTER / SCHEDULE
When the Winthrop men’s soccer team takes the field for warmups around 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 26 in Jacksonville, FL it will be the beginning of a new era.
After 27 consecutive years under the leadership of Rich Posipanko, the Eagles begin the 2016 season under the direction of Daniel Ridenhour, who spent the previous 12 seasons as an assistant coach with the program (the last seven seasons as Associate Head Coach).
Ridenhour as an assistant played a key role in Winthrop’s last five trips to the NCAA College Cup, including last season in which the Eagles captured their fifth Big South Championship.
Not many coaching changes are ever done following a championship season as Ridenhour looks to maintain the success Winthrop has had over the last 15 seasons. Ridenhour didn’t get any help in his first season as he looks to replace nine starters from the 2015 championship team that includes the reigning tournament MVP Max Hasenstab, who will miss the season with an injury.
Ridenhour and his staff worked hard to bring in a talented recruiting class to go along with the returning players to make up a competitive team this coming season.
There are three positions in the back as well as three forwards that tallied a combined for 4,487 minutes last season to replace as well as a couple of key midfield spots. Both areas were strengths of the Eagles last season. Winthrop finished the year 12
th nationally in scoring and defensively recorded shutouts in four of its final five contests of the season.
With Hasenstab missing the year with injury, this year’s team returns just one goal out of the 41 scored by the 2015 team. So perhaps the biggest question mark heading into the year is where will the goals come from? It’s a good opportunity for several players to step up and make their marks.
MINDING THE NET
This is one of the most competitive battles for a starting role between junior’s Hector Fernandez and Kenneth Perkinson and redshirt freshman Jack Twohig.
Fernandez has seen action in seven games in his first two seasons with six starts. Perkinson transferred in from UNC Pembroke where he was a two-year starter and two-time all-conference selection. Twohig sat out last season and brings good size and skill to the position.
Ridenhour has been very pleased with the way the goalies have performed in the preseason and says the battle to be the starter is so close that the two will likely rotate early on in the season and time will tell who is able to step and grab the starting role. Whoever it is, Ridenhour feels this will be a position of strength going forward.
BACK LINE
The Eagles have one returning player from a back line that finished the final allowed three goals in the final five games of the season and eight in the final nine games. However, it’s not likely that senior James Skonicki will remain at the outside back position he played in 2015 which will give the Eagles an entirely new look.
The Eagles could have any combination of freshmen Francesco Tiozzo and Andreas Jackson, sophomore Charlie Ramirez and junior Andrew Raad as the central defenders. Jackson and Raad could also play as outside backs. Senior Pietro Bottari, junior Zack Smythe and redshirt freshman Miles Rapp will also compete for starting roles as an outside back. Also vying for playing time and providing more depth in the back are junior Alvin Fonkoua and redshirt sophomore’s Jonathan Cutrone and Dakota Hawkins.
Bottari started his first two seasons at outside back but had just six starts in 2015 but did play in 15 games. Smythe also has experience having played in 20 games in his career with nine starts.
MIDFIELD
Skonicki will make his move from the back to midfield and join returning senior Marco Gatzke, who is the team’s top returning scorer with eight points (1g, 6a). It is a more natural position for Skonicki, who will add speed, skill and hard work as an outside mid.
Gatzke will likely man the middle of the field with junior Sal Perez as holding midfielders while the remaining midfield slots will be a combination of Skonicki, junior’s Nil Vinyals and Kento Ito along with sophomore Phillip Brazell, freshmen Jogvan Jacobsen, Joey Soeder and Leif Estevez. Rapp, Jackson and Fonkoua will provide depth behind Gatzke and Perez. Sophomore Evan Stout and redshirt freshman Brandon Anselmo will also battle for playing time.
This is an area that will have to step up and provide goals for the Eagles this season. The midfield is full of quality players with good technical skill and speed.
FORWARDS
This position by far has the least amount of depth on the squad. With Hasenstab out and the departure of Charles Coulson it looks as though the majority of time up top will go to junior Rasmus Arousell. The Stockholm, Sweden native scored 25 goals in two seasons at Middle Georgia State. Skonicki could also see time up top as well as Vinyals and Jogvan.
SCHEDULE
The Eagles have already faced two teams in the preseason Top 25 in North Carolina and South Carolina. Also on the slate is Charlotte, which is ranked as high as 22
nd in the preseason NSCAA Top 25 poll and league-foe Radford that has received votes in both the NSCAA and College Soccer News Polls.
The first seven games of the regular season will be on the road with tournament stops in Jacksonville, FL (at North Florida and at Jacksonville), Spartanburg, SC (vs. Mercer and at Wofford) and Wilmington, NC (vs. Marist and at UNC Wilmington). The final contest of the seven-game road swing will be in Boone, NC as the Eagles face Appalachian State.
Winthrop opens its home schedule against league foe Liberty on Sept. 24. The Eagles will also host Charlotte, High Point, Gardner-Webb, Longwood and Elon. The six regular season home games are the fewest since the very first season of the program back in 1975.
WELCOME BACK
Assistant coach Phil Hindson returns to the Eagle sidelines after stops at Clemson and UNC Pembroke when he departed in 2004. Hindson spent five years as an assistant coach with Clemson and one season as the interim head coach before heading to UNC Pembroke to lead the program for six seasons.
Hindson was part of the first Big South Conference Championship in the history of the program at Winthrop in 2002 and helped the team to a 47-28-5 mark in his four years. Combined with Ridenhour, the two have been a part of all the championships in the history of the program as well as all the major victories (tournament titles or wins over nationally-ranked opponents).
