ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop women's soccer team will hit the road for the final time in the regular season as it travels to face the UNC Asheville Bulldogs and Presbyterian Blue Hose this weekend.
The Eagles will face the Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 22 at 3:30 p.m., while the contest against the Blue Hose will begin at 2 p.m.
Winthrop is currently riding a two-game winning streak after defeating Radford 1-0 and VMI 2-0 last weekend at Eagle Field. The Eagles also tied the High Point Panthers on Oct. 11 in High Point. Forward Courtney Durbin and redshirt-junior goalie Kelsy Weavil were rewarded for their efforts in the three games last week as Durbin was selected the Big South Conference Attacking Player of the Week, while Weavil was the Defensive Player of the Week. It was the first honor of Durbin's career and the second for Weavil.
Winthrop enters the weekend with a 3-8-2 overall record and tied for third with High Point for third in the Big South standings with a 3-1-1 mark. UNC Asheville is 1-12 overall and in 10th place in the conference with a 0-5 record. Presbyterian is in seventh place with a 2-3 conference record and its overall record on the season is 5-9-1.
After being moved from defender to forward six games ago, Durbin now leads the Eagles offensively with four goals, nine points and two game-winners. Her two goals against the Keydets on Oct. 17 was the first time a Winthrop player had scored two goals in a contest since the 2007 season. Senior Tricia Vensel has a team-high 34 shot attempts and 15 shots on-goal. Sophomore Allie VandeWater posts a team-best in assists with four. She is tied for third for the Big South in that category. Weavil has allowed 11 goals this season for a GAA of 1.27 in eight games played. She has also grabbed a total of 37 saves for a save percentage of .771. Her back-to-back shutouts last weekend was also the first time since the 2007 season that an Eagle has posted consecutive shutouts.
For the Bulldogs, they have three players who lead the team in goals 13 games into their season. Leilani Halkiotis, Mary Beale and Ferriss Roberts all have two goals each, while Halkiotis has a team-high three assists, seven points and 29 shots. Dana Sroka has the lone game-winner for UNC Asheville this season. Megan Dent leads the Bulldogs in net with 65 saves and a .663 save percentage.
The Blue Hose are led offensively by Kate Baker who has three goals, six points, 32 shots and 16 attempts on-net. Stephanie Aaron and Jessica Kramer are tied for the team-lead with two assists apiece. Sara Beth Anderson is the top goalkeeper for Presbyterian as she has given up 20 goals on the season (a 1.60 GAA) and has snagged 96 saves for a .828 save percentage. She ranks first in the conference in saves, saves per game and shutouts per game, and is second in save percentage and shutouts.
The Bulldogs are led by first-year head coach Michelle Demko, who spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Nebraska. The Blue Hose are coached by Brian Purcell, who is in his 21st season with the program. He has a compiled a career record of 223-134-16 heading into this weekend's matchups.
UNC Asheville leads the all-time series over Winthrop 8-2-1 and 2-1 playing in Asheville. The last time the two teams played in Asheville, NC, the Eagles came away with a 1-0 win on Oct. 17, 2007. Winthrop holds a 2-0-1 all-time record against Presbyterian and are tied 0-0-1 when playing in Clinton. The Eagles and Blue Hose tied 0-0 the last time they played in Clinton, SC on Oct. 6, 2007.
