ROCK HILL, SC—The 22
nd-ranked Winthrop men's soccer team will put its six-game win streak on the line Saturday afternoon as it takes on Big South Conference foe UNC Asheville on the road.
It is the second straight game on the road for a Winthrop squad that is now 9-2 on the year and off to a perfect 3-0 start in the league. Winthrop looks for the 4-0 start in league play, which has been accomplished four times in the program's history most recently in 2008. The 1994 and 2002 teams were 5-0 in league play before their first loss.
The Eagles look to continue the success that has brought a lot of attention to the program over the past few weeks. Winthrop is now ranked in the Top 25 in two national polls with a 22
nd-ranking by TopDrawersoccer.com and 25
th ranking by College Soccer News. After its win at Presbyterian College last weekend the Eagles jumped to 6
th in the NSCAA/Continental Tire South Region.
After a four-goal performance in their last game, the Eagles moved to third nationally in scoring at 2.64 goals per game. The scoring has been very balanced as three different players lead the team with five goals. Senior
Pol Sole, junior
Magnus Thorsson and sophomore
Max Hasenstab each have five goals while Sole leads the team in scoring with 13 points. Sole, Hasenstab and freshman
Sam Schmidt each have multiple goals over the last three games.
Over the last three games, the defense has pitched two shutouts behind a strong effort from the back line and goalkeeper
Guilherme Avelar. The Eagles opened league play with a shutout win over Liberty and are coming off a shutout win over the Blue Hose. Avelar has been injured some this season but is 4-1 in games starter and his shutout at PC was the sixth of his two-year stint with the Eagles, four of which have come against Big South teams.
The Bulldogs enter the game with a 1-6-2 overall mark and are 0-3-1 in the Big South. They are coming off a 4-0 road loss to 20
th-ranked Coastal Carolina. While Asheville is 0-3 on the road, it is 1-2-2 at home, having tied Gardner-Webb 1-1 in its last match at Greenwood Field. In the five home games, two have been ties and the two losses were by a single goal.
Sophomore Jackson Allen has three goals on the season, while Paul Egle (Sr.), Victor Aguiar (Fr.) and Tevin Beckwith (So.) each have one.
Senior Dan Jackson has been in goal for every second this season and is second in the country in saves per game at 6.89 and seventh in total saves.
Asheville is the oldest rival for the Eagles as they matched up in Winthrop's first ever game in 1975 as the Bulldogs won 7-0.
The all-time series favors the Eagles 24-11-2 as the team's meet for the 38
th time. Winthrop has won two straight but the series is split 3-3 in the last six meetings and the Eagles have lost two of the last three trips to Asheville. Winthrop is 19-8-1 against Asheville in regular season league matchups.
