ROCK HILL, SC—The Eagle men's soccer team looks to end its three-game skid on Wednesday as it hosts Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m. at Eagle Field.
It will be the final home conference game for Winthrop, which wraps-up its regular season home schedule on Saturday in a non-conference game against Marshall at 1 p.m. The game will also feature “Senior Night” as Miquel Casajuana will be recognized for his time as a member of the men's soccer program. He is the lone senior on the roster, as Andrew Murphy is being red-shirted.
The game will also be a double-header with the women's soccer team as they host Charleston Southern in an important conference matchup. That game will start at 4 p.m. It will be the first ever men's and women's soccer double-header at Winthrop.
Winthrop (4-9-1, 2-4) is coming off a tough 2-1 loss in double-overtime at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Eagles allowed a goal with less than two minutes remaining on the clock and are now facing the possibility of their first losing season since 2004 when they finished 7-12. Winthrop must win its final two conference games to avoid finishing less than .500 in league play since the 1999 season. That year Winthrop was 3-4.
The Eagles lead the all-time series 10-1-2, but the last two meetings have each ended in a tie. Gardner-Webb's lone win in the series came in 2005 on the Eagles home turf, 3-0.
Gardner-Webb enters the game 5-9 overall and 3-2 in the league having earned wins over UNC Asheville, VMI and at Liberty. The Runnin' Bulldogs are 3-3 in their last six games and have scored nine goals and allowed 11 (nine of which came in two games). The key to the Runnin' Bulldogs winning games this season is not allowing a goal. In all five wins, Gardner-Webb has not allowed a single goal. In the nine losses, the Runnin' Bulldogs have allowed 26 goals (2.9 per game). Although, half of the goals allowed were in three games (High Point 4-0, Clemson 5-0 and UNC Greensboro 4-1).
Freshman Nicolas Wrobel leads the team in scoring with six goals (two game-winners) and two assists. Senior midfielder Romeo Kabanda is second in scoring with four goals (two game-winners) and four assists and has played in all 14 games.
Junior Adam Garcia has played in all 14 games between the posts and is holding a 1.81 goals against average while recording five shutouts.
Miquel Casajuana has stepped up for the Eagles lately, having scored in two straight games. He now has four on the year and reached his 20th career goal on Saturday at Coastal Carolina. Sophomore Tomas Brennan assisted on the goal Saturday and now has a point in two of the last five games.
Junior Michael Flato made his second start with the Eagles on Saturday and came away with 11 saves in the loss. Flato came through with a few big saves that kept Winthrop in the game.
Injuries continue to force the coaching staff to juggle the starting line-up and that patter will continue for Wednesday.
LAST MEETING: These two teams met in the opening round of the Big South Tournament last November, but the game was played on Gardner-Webb's home field after the entire tournament was rained out in High Point and moved to Boiling Springs, NC. It was the Skonicki brothers show as Matthew Skonicki and Adam Skonicki each scored a goal and assisted on the other. After the two teams battled to a 0-0 score in the first half, Both teams opened up for four goals in the second. Winthrop scored first when Matthew Skonicki scored on a cross from Adam Skonicki and then the Runnin' Bulldogs were awarded a penalty kick in the 64th minute, which Gerard Hefferon converted. Winthrop answered right back six minutes later when Adam Skonicki took a pass from Matthew and slotted it into the lower right corner of the net. Gardner-Webb tied the game in the 81st minute on a goal by Richie Wall. Neither team could score in overtime so the game was decided in penalty kicks. Winthrop won the shootout 4-3 on Casajuana's penalty shot.
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