Loewy Battles Former Coastal Carolina Standout Joseph Ngwenya During Tuesday's Game
ROCK HILL, SC—Former Winthrop soccer standout Otto Loewy made his Major League Soccer and professional debut when he started for the New England Revolution, Tuesday evening.
Loewy signed as a free agent with the Revolution on Mar. 31 and has suited up a couple of games before finally seeing the playing field on Tuesday. He nearly played the entire game as he was subbed in the 91st minute of a match the Revolution won 3-2 in the opening of U.S. Open Cup play. The match was played at the Maryland SoccerPlex.
During his time at Winthrop he was a four-year starter and earned several all-conference and all-region honors. Loewy is the fourth Winthrop player to play for an MLS team as he joins Marco Reda (Toronto FC), John Gilkerson (New York Red Bulls) and Matt Stinson (Toronto FC).
It was also a big night for Big South Conference men's soccer as a total of three former players were in the starting line-ups between the two teams. In addition to Loewy, Kheli Dube started for New England and Joseph Ngwenya started for D.C. United. Dube and Ngwenya are both former Big South standouts at Coastal Carolina.
Dube, who scored two goals in the win vs. D.C. United, was drafted by the Revolution in the 2008 MLS Supplemental Draft and has been a member of the club since. He has 14 career goals in the MLS and in 2008 he led all MLS rookies in goals and assists. Ngwenya has five years of MLS experience and 10-plus career goals scored.
Stinson is on the roster, but has not made an official appearance in an MLS or U.S. Open Cup game with Toronto FC. He did travel and play for Toronto FC over the winter and scored a game-winning goal against a club team in Turkey. His strong play led to him leaving Winthrop after just one season and signing with the Toronto FC.
The conference as a whole has had over 20 players compete on a professional level in the United States alone, over the last 5-7 seasons and Winthrop has nine of those players.
