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ROCK HILL, SC— The men's soccer team will look to end its five-game losing streak as it heads to High Point Saturday evening for its Big South Conference season opener.

After opening the season with three straight wins at home, Winthrop has lost five straight games. All of the losses have been away from Eagle Field and it's not going to get any easier for the Eagles as the next three contests are on the road, which will equate to eight straight games on the road. The situation came about after the home game on Sept. 23 against East Tennessee State was canceled due to rain and the Eagles make-up game ended up at Wake Forest. The eight game road trip ties a school record for most consecutive games played on the road (postseason not included).

In the last 10 Big South openers, Winthrop is 7-2-1. Only two of those matches were on the road with the Eagles winning 2-1 at High Point in 2007 and losing 2-1 at Liberty in 2001.

Winthrop is coming off a 1-0 loss at Wake Forest on Sunday, Sept 25 where the team's play improved from the previous four games, but in the end the team suffered its fifth straight defeat. The offense that exploded for 10 goals in the first three games of the season has since only scored one in the last five. The Eagles have been shutout in the last four games and have not scored a goal in 407 minutes and 38 seconds of action. It's the first time since 2004 that an Eagle squad has suffered five straight losses.

The Eagles will welcome back starters Alex Isern and Daniel Di Biagio for Saturday's conference opener as the two sat out of Sunday's game at Wake Forest to rest injuries.

Junior Alex Mantchev and freshman Akeem Matthews lead the team in goals with three each. Junior Patrick Walsh is expected to be in net as he took over the starting role at Davidson.

High Point enters the game with a 2-5-1 record overall and is 0-1 in the league after suffering a 2-1 loss to Liberty Tuesday evening. The Panthers are the preseason favorite to capture the Big South, but have gotten off to a slow start and have lost five of their last six games. The Panthers have only been shutout once all season, which came in the season opener in a 0-0 tie at Elon. High Point has not lost back-to-back Big South games at home since 2007. That year the Panthers fell 1-0 to Coastal Carolina and 3-1 to Liberty at home.

Sophomore Alex Martinez leads the team in scoring with four goals and eight points while sophomore Shawn Sloan is second on the team with two goals and two assists for six points.

Senior Michael Chesler will likely be in net for High Point as he's played all but a minute and 15 seconds of the season in goal. Chesler has posted a 1.58 goals against average this season with one shutout.

The all-time series is led by Winthrop with a 14-3-1 record against High Point, but lost 3-1 last season in Rock Hill, SC in 2008.