ROCK HILL, SC—The men's soccer team opens up the 2013 season this weekend as it heads to Statesboro, GA to take on Georgia Southern and Wofford College in the BigSouth/SoCON Challenge.
Winthrop will open up on Friday, Aug. 30 against the host school Georgia Southern at 7:30 p.m. and then face Wofford College on Sunday at noon. The other team representing the Big South this weekend is Gardner-Webb.
The Eagles return seven starters from its team that went to the NCAA College Cup and advanced to the Round of 32 in 2012. A talented group of players were lost to graduation were key to the success at the end of last season, but head coach
Rich Posipanko and his staff have worked hard to build a strong, talented team for this season. Posipanko noted the team this year will have stronger depth at every position and could be better than the 2012 team.
"One of our strengths this season is we have more depth at every position than last year," said Posipanko, now in his 25
th season as head coach of the Eagles. "We're certainly not going to give up as many goals as we did last year and we should score more."
The two games on the weekend should be a good test for the Eagles as Georgia Southern was 3-3-1 in a strong Southern Conference last season and Wofford College was 10-9-2 overall and ranked 65
th in scoring. Georgia Southern was picked third in the SoCON Preseason Poll while Wofford was voted sixth.
Last season in Spartanburg, SC the Eagles lost to Georgia Southern 3-2 and defeated the Terriers 2-1 in overtime. Winthrop is 8-5-2 all-time against Georgia Southern and has lost two of the last three meetings. The last two meetings have been decided by a goal. The Eagles are 22-7-2 all-time against Wofford College having won the last two meetings and four of the last five.
Offensively the Eagles return senior
Achille Obougou, who tallied seven goals and three assists last season and will be looked upon to better those numbers. Senior
Mason Lavallet came up big for the Eagles last year in clutch situations and looks to improve on his seven goals and two assists from a year ago. Senior
Adam Brundle returns after a season of two goals and three assists from his midfield position.
Defensively the Eagles will have a new face in goal and likely a couple of new faces on the back line. Sophomore's
Jordi Lluch and
Kyle Kennedy held strong in the middle for most of last season and joining them in the back could be
Jon Simic,
Pietro Bottari,
Josh Choice,
C.J. Miller or
Nick Nova as they've all battled for a starting role in the back during the preseason.
The Eagles are 3-2 in their last five season openers and haven't opened the season away from home with a victory since defeating USC Upstate 5-0 on Sept. 1, 2007 in Radford, VA.
Keep An Eye On…
Pol Sole (Jr., MF, 6-0) He looks to step into the role vacated by
Alex Isern, who led the team in scoring a year ago. Sole is a very skillful player and will be looked upon to create scoring opportunities. Has good size for an attack mid
Guilherme Avelar (Jr., GK, 6-0) Has likely earned the starting role in the net and will look to prove he's the next in the line of a solid group of goalies the Eagles have had the past decade and a half
Max Hasenstab (Fr., F, 5-9) Has been brought in to score goals and has looked sharp in the preseason. He is one of several newcomers vying for playing time up front
