ROCK HILL, SC—For the second time in three years, the Winthrop men's soccer team will square off against Radford in the semifinals of the Big South Conference Tournament as the two teams meet Friday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. at Bryan Park in Greensboro, NC.
The Eagles opened the conference tournament with a 4-1 victory over 5
th-seeded Liberty on Tuesday while Radford downed 8
th seeded Campbell 2-0. Winthrop enters the game with a 13-4-1 record while Radford is now 12-4-2.
In 2012, the Eagles met the Highlanders in the semifinals of the tournament at Bryan Park and an overtime goal by Alex Isern sent Winthrop to the championship game with a 2-1 victory.
Winthrop takes on the top-seeded Highlanders just a little over a week removed from pulling off a 1-0 victory at Radford in the regular season finale for both teams. It was a match of limited opportunities as both teams were well organized defensively but the Eagles caught a break on a deflected in the area and were able to capitalize for the only goal.
This will mark the 34
th meeting all-time between Winthrop and Radford but just the fifth time the two have face each other in the conference tournament. Prior to their meeting in the 2012 semifinals, Winthrop and Radford had only met once in the tourney the previous 26 championships. That only meeting came in the 2002 semifinals in Rock Hill as the Eagles escaped with a 4-3 victory. Winthrop is 3-1 against Radford in conference tournament action.
Sophomore
Max Hasenstab, who was named to the All-Big South 1
st Team, netted a hat trick to highlight the 4-1 victory over Liberty on Tuesday. The Idstein, Germany native now has 12 goals in 13 games played as he missed five games this season that included the first four of the season. He now leads the league in scoring at 2.08 points per game. He now has seven goals in the last six games and five in the last three. Senior
Pol Sole, also a Big South 1
st Team selection, set up the first two goals as he is second on the team in scoring with seven goals and eight assists. Sole ranks 13
th in the country in assists and 18
th in assists per game.
In goal will be junior
Fabian Broich who made one save in the Eagles win over the Flames as he is now 5-1 on the year with a 0.60 goals against average. In the first meeting with Radford, Broich made one save to preserve his second shutout of the season.
Radford bounced back from its loss to Winthrop with a 2-0 victory over Campbell in the first round of the tournament. The Highlanders scored just a minute and 28 seconds into the game as freshman Evan Szklennik scored his first goal of the season and then later added his second with an insurance goal in the 59
th minute.
Offensively the Highlanders are led by Kieran Roberts, who has five goals and three assists in 15 games played (three starts), but missed time after the game at Virginia and returned briefly against Campbell (nine minutes). Stephen Hudgens, an All-Big South 2
nd Team selection at forward is second on the team in scoring with five goals and an assist.
All-Big South 1
st Team selection Aitor Pouseu Blanco is 11-4-2 with a league-best 0.85 goals against average and has seven shutouts of the season in goal for the Highlanders, but he did not play for the first time this season in the win over Campbell. Stockton Blanchard stepped right in and made four saves to preserve another shutout for Radford, its eighth of the season.
It will be a matchup of the Big South's top scoring offense, Winthrop, against the conference leader in goals against average in Radford. The Eagles are currently second in the nation in scoring at 2.39 per game while the Highlanders are 37 nationally in goals against average (0.81) and 37
th offensively at 1.72 goals per game. Winthrop all-time is 6-9-3 in the conference tournament semifinals and 1-4-1 against the #1 seed.
The winner will advance to the championship game on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.
