ROCK HILL, SC—Looking to remain unbeaten, the Winthrop men's soccer team travels to Greensboro, NC to take on UNC Greensboro, Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Winthrop is off to one of the best starts in school history at 5-0-1 and is coming off a 6-0 win over Brevard College in its home opener. The Eagles get back on the road of their biggest test yet this season as they head to UNCG Soccer Stadium where they are just 1-7 all-time and 1-6 against the Spartans.
The last meeting between the two schools came in 2008 with a Winthrop 3-2 victory at the UNCG Kickoff Classic. It's the only time Winthrop has defeated the Spartans in 11 meetings. The last two meetings have been one goal games, but the previous nine were won by at least two goals.
Winthrop enters the game ranked fourth nationally in scoring at 2.83 goals per game and face a Spartan team averaging 1.29 goals per game and allowing 1.29 goals per game.
Freshman
Max Hasenstab leads the Eagles in scoring with 10 points (3g, 4a) while senior
Achille Obougou is second on the team with three goals and an assist for seven points. The Eagles have scored 13 goals in their last three games with 10 different players scoring goals. There have been 11 different players score for Winthrop this season.
Guilherme Avelar continues to be solid in net for the Eagles as he turned in a clean 45 minutes in his last contest and has a 0.87 goals against average with a 0.861 save percentage. Winthrop has two shutouts on the year and has only once yielded multiple goals.
UNCG, ranked 10th in the NSCAA/Continental Tire South Region, enters the game with a 4-3 record and has recorded a shutout in all four victories, outscoring its opponents 7-0. In its three losses, the Spartans have been outscored 9-2 and shutout twice (vs. High Point and at #4 Clemson). Both home losses this season have come against Big South Conference opponents as the Spartans also fell 4-2 to Coastal Carolina.
After opening the season 3-0, the Spartans climbed to as high as 15
th in the nation before losing three straight. But a 2-0 victory over a solid UNC Wilmington squad has UNCG back on the winning track.
The offense is led by four different players with junior midfielder David Reittinger leading the way in scoring with seven points (3g, 1a). Senior's Brian Graham and Mahdi Ali each have two goals as well as sophomore forward Dustin Gamradt. Both of Ali's goals have been game-winners.
Redshirt sophomore Stephen Moffitt will be between the posts as he's holding a 1.29 goals against average, but has four shutouts in seven games.
