ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's soccer looks to carry its momentum from a 2-0 start into the UNCW Courtyard Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach Classic this weekend as it opens up against Elon on Friday, Sept. 5 at 5 p.m.
The Eagles will then play the host UNC Wilmington Seahawks on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2:30 p.m.
Winthrop is off to a 2-0 start after wins over Wofford College and Georgia Southern last weekend at the Big South/SoCON Challenge in Boiling Springs, NC. The 1-0 victory over Wofford was the eighth time in Winthrop's history it shutout an opponent in the season opener.
The opening weekend saw three of the Eagles four goals scored by newcomers as the team looked for some offense with the absence of the team's top returning scorer from 2013,
Max Hasenstab. In the win over Wofford junior
Jordan Stoddart scored his first goal as an Eagle and then on Sunday freshmen
Charles Coulson and
Sam Schmidt netted their first collegiate goals. Winthrop will need more of the same this weekend as it will be without the services of Hasenstab, Stoddart, and
Pietro Bottari.
Defensively the Eagles have been strong as the only goal allowed came on a penalty. Junior goalkeeper
Fabian Broich made four saves to earn his second shutout as an Eagle in the opener and then made two saves in the win over Georgia Southern.
This will be the Eagles first meeting with Elon since suffering a 4-0 road loss in 2009. This will mark the 12
th meeting all-time against the Phoenix as the Eagles hold a slight edge in the all-time series at 6-4-1 and have won three of the last four meetings. Elon is under the direction of first-year head coach Chris Little, who had been an assistant coach for the Phoenix from 2010-12. This year's squad has 20 returners including six starters from a squad that won 15 games in 2013 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
So far this season Elon is 1-1 as it dropped its opener 3-2 to Stetson before bouncing back with a 1-0 victory over Loyola Marymount. Junior Miguel Salazar has scored two of the team's three goals this season and had the game-winner against Loyola Marymount. Senior goalkeeper Nathan Dean has been in net for both games as he made five saves to earn a shutout. Salazar isn't the only goal scoring threat as the team's scoring leader in senior Jason Waterman returns as well. Waterman, a 6-3 forward, had 12 goals and seven assists last season. Junior James Brace, who had 10 goals and four assists, also returns.
On Sunday the Eagles will face UNCW, which is off to a 2-0 start on the season after wins at High Point (2-0) and in its home opener vs. UNC Greensboro (2-1 2OT). So far the Seahawks have four different goal scorers this season and Sean Melvin has been solid in goal. Melvin opened the season making two saves in a shutout at High Point and then made four saves in the win over UNCG. His only goal allowed this season came on a penalty.
UNCW returns five of its six players that scored multiple goals in 2013 including the top scorer Colin Bonner (6g, 3a). Bonner scored the golden goal in the win over UNCG. Jamie Dell and David Sizemore each had four goals last season and have already tallied one each to start the year.
This will be just the fifth meeting with UNCW all-time as the Eagles are just 1-3 in the all-time series. The last meeting came Sept. 12, 2010 in Wilmington as the Eagles lost to the 24
th-ranked Seahawks 1-0. Winthrop's only two trips to Wilmington have resulted in 1-0 losses.
