ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's soccer will put its three-game winning streak on the line when it opens Big South Conference play against Liberty on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. on Eagle Field.
The Eagles ended their non-conference slate with a 4-2 victory over East Tennessee State on Tuesday for their third straight win as they are now 6-2 on the year. This will mark the 35
th meeting all-time between Winthrop and Liberty. The series has been dominated through the years by Liberty with a 21-10-3 mark. Since 2004, the Eagles are 8-6-1 against Liberty.
During the three-game win streak the Eagles have scored 14 goals and are now 11
th in the country in goals per game (2.50). It is the first time since 2005 that a Winthrop team scored 14 or more goals in a three-game span.
Junior
Magnus Thorsson had two goals in the victory over ETSU and is now tied for the team lead with four goals. Junior
Jordan Stoddart, who was named the Big South Attacking Player of the Week on Monday, has four goals on the year in six games played as three of them have gone for game-winners. The team leader in setting up goals is junior
Jordi Lluch as he has four assists from his center back position. Thorsson and Stoddart are ranked 34
th nationally in total goals while Lluch is ranked 13
th nationally in total assists.
Injuries have plagued the Eagles in goal as they've used their third goalie over the last two and a half games as redshirt freshman
Hector Fernandez has a 3-0 mark. Senior
Guilherme Avelar has been cleared and will be available for the game against the Flames.
Winthrop is 18-11-1 all-time in its Big South Conference openers and 11-6-1 when doing so at Eagle Field. This will be the fourth time Winthrop has opened league play against the Flames and are 1-2 in those games. The lone win came in 2008, 3-1.
Liberty enters the game with a 5-1-1 record and are ranked sixth nationally in scoring at 2.71 goals per game. The Flames have not been shutout this season and are coming off a 4-0 home win over Howard. The Flames have yet to lose a game away from Lynchburg as they are 3-0-1 on the year.
There are six players on the roster with two or more goals as junior Sachem Wilson leads the team with four goals while the other five have two each. Wilson also leads the team with four assists. Freshmen Bay Kurtz, Jovanni Chavez and junior Khalil Karl each have two goals and two assists as they are tied for second in scoring on the team with six points.
Senior Scott Sutarik, a three-year starter, has played every second in goal for Liberty and has a 0.96 goals against average and two shutouts.
