ROCK HILL, SC—The men's soccer team looks for its third straight win as it travels to Farmville, VA to take on Longwood University on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.
Winthrop is coming off back-to-back shutout victories for the second time this season and is sitting at 9-4-1 overall and 3-3 in the Big South. The Eagles next victory will be a significant one as it will mark the men's soccer program's 400
th victory all-time. It also marks the second time that head coach
Rich Posipanko will return to his old stomping grounds as head coach of the Eagles. Posipanko coached Longwood for 10 years (1979-88) and won 117 games. He returned to Farmville as head coach of the Eagles for the first time in 2007 for the Lancer Invitational as the team defeated George Washington 2-1 and Longwood 1-0.
The Lancers became members of the Big South Conference in 2012 and the first meeting between the two schools as a league game went to the Eagles, 2-0, in Rock Hill. Winthrop leads the all-time series 6-0.
Over the last few weeks the Eagles have battled through injuries to the starting line-up but have remained competitive as it only lost one of its games during the losing streak by more than one goal. Against High Point the Eagles had a couple of players return from injury, but once again the Eagles will have to rely on its quality depth.
The team's leading scorer freshman
Max Hasenstab missed the game against Presbyterian College and is doubtful to play Saturday. He leads the team with seven goals and five assists. Senior
Achille Obougou is healthy and will look to continue his hot streak of scoring as he's netted a goal in three straight games. Junior
Pol Sole seems to be getting healthier with every game and is coming off his first game-winning goal as an Eagle. He's got two goals in five games since returning from injury and has been involved in creating several scoring chances. Senior
Adriano Negri, who scored a goal in the game against Longwood in 2012, is likely to start if Hasenstab can't go.
After its four goals in the win on Wednesday, Winthrop is now third nationally in scoring at 2.36 goals per game, which leads the Big South. Obougou is now 28
th nationally in goals per game and 36
th in points per game.
Winthrop could be without both starting outside backs as
Cody Winter will sit for card accumulation and
Pietro Bottari is questionable. Starting goalkeeper
Guilherme Avelar is out for the game and will be replaced by
Fabian Broich, who has done a nice job filling in. Broich is coming off his first shutout with the Eagles as he made one save in the 4-0 win over Presbyterian College. He made seven saves against Coastal Carolina and came off the bench at High Point to make four saves.
Longwood enters the game with an overall record of 5-5-3, but is 4-1-1 in the Big South and is currently second place in the standings. The Lancers have won four of their last five games and are coming off a 3-1 loss at Campbell. Longwood has won its last two home games by the score of 3-1 and are 3-2-2 there this season.
Freshman defender Ben Ferrell leads the team in scoring with eight points as he is tied for the team lead in goals with three and also has two assists. Sophomore forward Zach Crandall and junior forward Anthony Ugorji are second on the team in scoring as each have three goals and an assist.
In goal for the majority of the season has been freshman Carlos Canas as he is 4-4-2 on the year with a 1.20 goals against average in nine starts and 10 appearances. He replaced Philip Van Berkom in the loss to Davidson on Sept. 14 and has played every minute since.
The Lancers have the fourth best goals against average in the Big South at 1.23 and have the same average offensively.
