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ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop men's soccer team will host Gardner-Webb Wednesday night at Eagle Field in a Big South Conference contest. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Winthrop (6-7-1, 2-3-1 BSC) is coming off a 1-1 tie against Liberty and looking to even its overall and league record. This is a big match as Gardner-Webb (3-11-1) is tied with the Eagles in sixth place with a 2-3-1 mark.
It looked as if Winthrop was on the verge of suffering its eighth loss of the season when freshman
Jordi Lluch was able to draw a penalty with 28 seconds remaining in regulation as everyone had moved forward. Senior
Alex Isern stepped up and drilled the shot into the net to earn the Eagles a tie. It was the first time since Oct. 2, 2010 at Wofford College that the Eagles played to a tie.
Winthrop is playing its second of four straight home games, where it is 3-1-1 on the season so far. The only loss came on Oct. 6 against #23 High Point, 2-1.
Although the offense has slipped a bit over the past three games (two goals in three games) the Eagles didn't fall too far in the national rankings in goals per game as they enter this week at 36
th (1.86). Isern is ranked 47
th nationally in points per game (1.38), is 28
th in assists per game (.46) and 29
th in total assists (six). He is sixth in the Big South in scoring and fourth in goals.
One of the reasons for the drop off is the amount of injuries the Eagles have battled the past week or so. Winthrop played its last two games without junior
Achille Obougou (5 goals, assist) and
Marc Segarra (5 goals). In addition to those two,
Adam Brundle,
Kyle Kennedy,
Patrick Barnes,
Tomas Brennan,
Josh Choice,
Daniel Di Biagio and
Nick Kowalski also missed at least one and some missed both. However, the Eagles have been able to hold strong and hope to continue doing so against the Runnin' Bulldogs.
After allowing a season-high five goals at Campbell, the injuries started to pile up more but the defense was able to pull together and get better. Winthrop has allowed just one goal in its last two games, including holding the Chanticleers to one goal as they entered the match 9
th in the country in scoring.
The Runnin' Bulldogs are looking to end a three-game losing streak in which they've suffered a one-goal loss in two of the matches. The streak started with a double-overtime loss at #23 High Point and Gardner-Webb is coming off a 1-0 loss against 10
th-ranked Coastal Carolina in which the game-winner came in the 83
rd minute.
Gardner-Webb has three different players leading the way offensively with two goals. Taylor Jordan, Satoshi Tatsumi, and Jon Ole Reinhardsen each have two with Reinhardsen's two goals being game-winners.
In net for the Runnin' Bulldogs should be red-shirt senior Scott Krotee, who is ranked 7
th nationally in saves per game with 6.14. He is 3-10-1 on the year with three shutouts (all three in league play).
The past two years, Winthrop has defeated the Runnin' Bulldogs in the regular season but has been knocked out of the first round of the conference tournament by them in each season as well.
Winthrop leads the all-time series 12-3-2 against Gardner-Webb but has lost two of the previous three meetings.
Game Notes
-Four of the past six meetings between the two teams have been in Boiling Spring
-Only one of the last seven meetings has been decided by more than one goal (Nov. 11, 2010 Gardner-Webb defeated Eagles 2-0 in 1
st Round Big South Tourney)
-Isern Has a point in eight of the last nine games and a goal in two of the last three
-Winthrop is 3-4-1 on the year in games decided by one goal or less
-The Eagles have allowed just one goal to each of its opponents in the last three home matches
-The Eagles had seven true freshmen on the field at one time in Saturday's game against Liberty
-
Enrique Miranda has played in four straight games with three starts and is 1-1-1 in that time with a .86 goals against average and a .727 save percentage
-Gardner-Webb has been shut out eight times and has recorded three shutouts
-The Runnin' Bulldogs have gone to overtime five times this season and are 1-3-1 in those games
-Winthrop is 2-0-1 in overtime games this season
