ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop men's soccer team looks to erase the memories of last season as it opens the 2011 campaign by hosting Brevard College Friday night, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. on Eagle Field.
It will be the second straight season the Eagles opened the season against Brevard as Winthrop battled to a 2-0 victory in last season's opener.
Winthrop is coming off a season in which it managed just five wins, the lowest win total since 1989. The team has gone through a makeover in the offseason and has 12 new faces along with one red-shirt from a season ago and returns six starters from the 2010 team. Last year's team had 20 underclassmen and this year's team will have 13.
Winthrop lost its top two scorers from a year ago as Miquel Casajuana graduated after an impressive career and Matt Stinson left after his freshman year to pursue a professional career with Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.
Junior Tomas is the team's top returning scorer as he had two goals and two assists last season. Senior Andres Pullin and red-shirt sophomore Nick Kowalski were tied for fourth on the team with five points in 2010 and they both return.
However, the offense only managed 20 goals in 18 games, which was the least amount of goals in a single season since 1989 (19).
That forced Posipanko to bring in a number of players to try and get the offense back on track. Posipanko hopes some sort of combination between freshmen Mpumelelo Matutu and Akeem Matthews, sophomore Mason Lavallet, and juniors Mar Segarra and Alex Mantchev can spark the offense.
The defense will be anchored by veterans Daniel Di Biagio and Matt Horn along with Brennan, who has been dropped to an outside back position in wake of injuries. DiBiagio is a junior that was an All-Conference performer as a freshman and Horn is a senior that started the last two seasons, so both should bring some stability to the back line. In 2010, Winthrop allowed 37 goals.
Brevard College is an NCAA Division II institution out of Brevard, NC. The Tornados are coming of a 3-15-1 season. The team returns five starters from the 2010 squad, but lost three of its top scorers. Sophomore midfielder Jami Uuttu is the team's top returning scorer with three goals and two assists for eight points. There was a lot of turnover on the Tornados' roster as the team welcomes 13 freshmen, four sophomores and two juniors to a squad that returned 17 players. The team has experience returning in goal as sophomore's Jack Shaw and Pauli Jussila combined to play all but one game. Shaw started all nine games he played in and was 2-5-1 while Jussila started eight of the 13 games he played and was 1-8.
The list of players to watch for this game could be long, but instead the list will only include five:
1. Enrique Miranda (33), Jr., Goalkeeper (Started all 21 games as a freshman, but lost starting spot as team used three different keepers in 2010. Will get the chance to lock down starting spot again as Patrick Walsh and Tom Banfield are right on his heels waiting for their chance)
2. Mpumelelo Matutu (8), Fr., Forward (Speedy player with good skill that will try and rejuvenate the Eagles offense)
3. Tomas Brennan (18), Jr., Defender (Making a move from the midfield to a starting outside back. This transition could open up a lot of line-up possibilities if Brennan settles in to the role early)
4. Marc Segarra (25), Jr., Forward (Another forward brought in to beef up the offense. Is tall at 6-3 and holds the ball very well with a good ability to finish as well. Has only seen a few minutes during preseason, but should be ready for a good chunk of minutes against Brevard)
5. Alex Isern (6), Jr., Midfielder (Taking over the role vacated by Matt Stinson. Very good at attacking with and without the ball and should get forward a lot)
