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ROCK HILL, SC—The men's soccer team will look to extend its winning streak as it takes on Big South Conference foe UNC Asheville on the road, Saturday afternoon.

It is the Big South opener for the Eagles (4-4) as the Bulldogs are already two games into league play. Winthrop has lost its last two conference openers and is 7-2-1 in the last 10.

After suffering three straight losses, Winthrop bounced back to capture wins over East Tennessee State (ranked 8^th in the NSCAA South Region at the time) and USC Upstate. During the last three games, Winthrop's offense has put up seven goals against opponents whose goalkeeper ranked in the Top 40 nationally in save percentage.

Winthrop entered the game against USC Upstate on Tuesday ranked 26^th nationally at 2.14 goals per game and is averaging 2.12 per game heading into Saturday's matchup with the Bulldogs.

Senior Alex Isern has gotten more involved in the scoring lately as he has a three-game point streak going with a goal and three assists in that stretch. After scoring the game-tying goal against USC Upstate, Isern set up Adam Brundle with the game-winner in the 87^th minute. The game-winner was the third of his as a member of the Eagles.

Defensively the Eagles were without the services of four-year starter Daniel Di Biagio as he missed the game with a leg injury, but is expected to return to the line-up this weekend. Filling in for Di Biagio in the back was freshman Walker Johnson, who was very solid for 90 minutes of action.

Winthrop has lost the last two games to the Bulldogs and hasn't won in Asheville since 2006 when it squeaked out a 2-1 victory in overtime. Winthrop is 8-7 all-time on the road versus the Bulldogs. The Eagles have also been shut out the last two meetings and haven't scored a goal on the Bulldogs in the last 189 minutes and 45 seconds.

UNC Asheville is 1-8 on the year and is coming off a couple of tough defeats on the road at High Point (L, 3-0) and Mercer (L, 4-0). The Bulldogs will be read to turn things around at home against the Eagles.

The Bulldogs are 1-4 at home this season with the victory coming in the opener, 5-0 over Brevard College. After opening the season with five straight games at home, Asheville hit the road for the next four. In addition to falling at High Point, the Bulldogs lost 1-0 at home to Longwood and are 0-2 in the league.

Sophomore midfielder Patrick Phillip is the team's leading goal scorer with two goals while freshman Trey Hemphill has a goal and assist on the year as the team's second leading scorer.

The Bulldogs have used three different goalies, but sophomore Dan Jackson has started seven games. However, sophomore Zak Davis got his first start of the season on Wednesday at Mercer.

Winthrop leads the all-time series 23-10-2, but three of the last four decisions have gone in favor of the Bulldogs.

EAGLE NOTES:
-Winthrop is 18-6-1 all-time against UNC Asheville in league games
-Of the 18 wins against UNCA in league games, only five have been shutouts
-Winthrop's first game in program history was at UNC Asheville in 1975 as the Eagles lost 7-0
-Winthrop is 18-8-1 all-time in Big South openers with the biggest win coming in 2006 with an 8-1 victory over Liberty and 2002 against High Point, 7-0
-The Eagles worse loss in a Big South opener came last season (2011) when they were beat 6-0 at High Point
-Eagles have opened up league play on the road 11 times since the league play began in 1985
-The last time Winthrop won three straight was the start of the 2011 season