ROCK HILL, SC— The men's soccer team is coming off its first winning week of the season and looks to continue its improvement as High Point comes to town for a 7 p.m. showdown at Eagle Field Wednesday evening.
Winthrop is 3-5-1 overall this season and 1-1 in the Big South while High Point comes in having won three straight and are 6-2-1 overall and 1-0 in the league.
After being shut out four consecutive games, Winthrop finally broke its scoreless streak in a 1-0 road win over Presbyterian College when Matt Stinson found of the back of the net in the 88th minute. At that point, Winthrop had recorded a shutout in its three victories on the year and had been shutout in its five losses. The first game the Eagles played in which both teams scored came on Saturday in a wild non-conference contest at Wofford. Both teams battled to a 1-1 tie despite 39 total shots and 110 minutes of action. After yielding an early goal, Winthrop pounded away at the goal the entire second half and eventually broke through on a Stinson goal in the 78th minute.
The team is steadily improving and hopes to keep that momentum going in its Big South Conference contest against High Point.
High Point, ranked 11th in the NSCAA/HendrickCars.com South Atlantic Region, will be looking for a little payback as the Eagles handed it one of its only two losses at home a year ago in a 1-0.
The game will be just the second away game for the Panthers this season, but they have played three away from home on the year. The first road game came on Sept. 18 in a 2-1 loss to 23rd-ranked William & Mary. The other two came on a neutral field at the James Madison Tournament where High Point lost 3-0 to St. Francis (Pa) and bounced right back to hammer Rider 5-0 two days later.
During the current win streak, High Point has scored 11 goals and allowed just two. The Panthers are currently ranked 15th nationally in scoring at 2.33 goals per game and are led by Karo Okiomah, Fejiro Okiomah, and Scott Rojo. Karo Okiomah leads the team with seven goals and two assists and is ranked fourth nationally in goals per game and fifth nationally in points per game. Fejiro Okiomah has four goals and two assists while Scott Rojo has two goals and six assists.
In net will likely be Michael Chesler, who has started all nine games and currently holds a 0.98 goals against average with four shutouts on the year.
The all-time series is led by Winthrop with a 14-2-1 record against High Point, but lost the last meeting in Rock Hill, SC in 2008. The Panthers defeated Winthrop 2-1 in the regular season finale. Winthrop is 6-1 all-time at home against High Point.
CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STATS
CLICK HERE FOR LIVE VIDEO
