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ROCK HILL, SC—Sophomore
Max Hasenstab netted a hat trick to lead fourth-seeded Winthrop to a 4-1 victory over 5
th-seeded Liberty, Tuesday evening in the first round of the Big South Tournament.
Hasenstab scored the first three goals for the Eagles as they improve to 13-4-1 on the year and advance to the semifinals of the tournament to face top-seeded Radford on Friday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. at Bryan Park in Greensboro, NC. Liberty finishes the season at 11-6-1 and one of five schools in the league to capture 10 or more wins.
This will be the Eagles second appearance in the semifinals of the conference tournament in the last three seasons.
"I thought we played extremely well against a very good and hot Liberty team," said Winthrop head coach
Rich Posipanko. "We are happy to advance and head to Greensboro for the final four."
After coming close on a couple of occasions during the first half, the Eagles finally broke through the Liberty defense as
Pol Sole and Hasenstab played a little 1-2 that set Hasenstab free in the box heading to goal. Hasenstab ran onto the ball as Liberty goalkeeper Scott Sutarik approached and released a shot that found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead in the 38
th minute.
The Eagles led 1-0 at the half and then Hasenstab made it 2-0 early on in the second as he made a run into the area and cracked a shot first time off a pass to the middle from
Sam Schmidt. The shot beat Sutarik near post as it hit the inner part of the post and bounced into the net.
In the 67
th minute, Hasenstab completed his hat trick as he collected a free ball, tipped it by the last Liberty defender and raced to goal, slipping a shot by the goalie on a one-on-one for a 3-0 lead. It is the first three-goal performance by an Eagle in the conference tournament since Daniel Revivo had a hat trick in the 2006 final.
Liberty got on the board in the 75
th minute after applying a lot of pressure offensively. Tim Harbison played a through ball down the wing that Bay Kurtz received and delivered a ball into the area right to Sachem Wilson, who blasted a shot from about 10 yards out past
Fabian Broich.
For the next few minutes following the Liberty goal the Eagle defense held off the pressure and eventually added another insurance goal in the 85
th minute. Junior
Magnus Thorsson blasted home a shot from just around the six after the ball bounced around after a corner kick service from Schmidt.
Broich finished the night with one save as he improved to 4-1 on the year while Sutarik had two saves and finished the year 11-5-1. Winthrop finished with a 12-8 advantage in shots and a 5-3 edge in corner kicks.
Sole finished with two assists on the night and Hasenstab's three goals gives him 12 in 13 games played this season.
