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ROCK HILL, SC—The end of the 2011 regular season is nearing and the men's soccer team will hit the road Wednesday night for its final road game when it travels to Boiling Springs, NC to take on Gardner-Webb.

Winthrop (6-10, 3-4 Big South) hopes to quickly erase the memory of its 6-0 loss at home last Saturday to 13^th-ranked Coastal Carolina. It was the team's worst home loss since the 2000 season when Liberty defeated the Eagles by the same score. Gardner-Webb enters the match with an 8-6-3 overall record and 5-2-1 mark in the Big South. The Runnin' Bulldogs are currently in second place battling Campbell for the second spot in the tourney.

The Eagles currently sit in a tie for sixth in the Big South Conference standings. Presbyterian College and Winthrop each have 3-4 league records, but Winthrop holds the tie-breaker over the Blue Hose having defeated them on Oct. 26, 2-1. There are currently four teams with three wins and two teams with two wins trying to fight for spots in the conference tournament next week.

Wednesday's match-up with the Runnin' Bulldogs will be the 16^th meeting all-time as the Eagles hold an 11-2-2 advantage in the series. Winthrop survived a barrage of 23 shots in the 2010 meeting to capture a 2-1 victory on “Senior Night” as the two teams combined for 40 shots, 29 fouls and six yellow cards.

Gardner-Webb got payback in the opening round of the 2010 Big South Tournament by knocking the defending champions out with a 2-0 victory. It was the 10^th time Winthrop had been shutout in a total of 38 conference tournament games.

The Bulldogs have an unbeaten streak of six games after winning five straight and have earned three straight shutouts defensively.

Led by red-shirt junior Scott Krotee in net, Gardner-Webb has not allowed more than one goal in a single game since Oct. 1 in a 3-1 loss at Campbell. This is just the fifth game Gardner-Webb will have played at home this season. The Runnin' Bulldogs are 4-0 at home with three shutouts. Krotee sports a 1.07 goals against average and a 7-4-2 record with five shutouts.

Sophomore Chris Davis leads the team offensively with five goals and two assists while freshman Denzel Clarke has three goals and two assists. Junior John Sargent also has three goals.

Winthrop is still led by junior Alex Mantchev's four goals while freshman Akeem Matthews has three goals and sophomore Adam Brundle has two.

The Eagles will have their work cut out for them down the stretch in trying to earn a point and it will start with a Runnin' Bulldogs looking for their highest finish in the Big South regular season standings since coming over from the Atlantic Sun in 2008. Gardner-Webb has finished third twice.