ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's soccer is set to take on a talented Elon squad in the first round of the 2015 NCAA College Cup, as both programs look for their first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament.

MATCH SNAPSHOT
Winthrop (11-6-2) at Elon (13-5-1)
Thursday, Nov. 19 | 7:00 p.m. | Rudd Field (Elon, NC)
Live Stats / Live Video / Twitter
 
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Thursday's match will be free for Elon students with a valid Phoenix Card ID and $5 for each adult. For members of Elon's faculty and staff, tickets will be $4 and $3 for children younger than 12. For advanced tickets click here.
 
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Winthrop earned the automatic berth to the NCAA College Cup after its 3-1 win in a shootout over High Point Sunday afternoon. The game was tied 0-0 after 110 minutes as the Eagles played in their third overtime game in the last six Big South Tournament appearances. Elon fell in penalties in the semifinals of the Colonial Conference Tournament to Delaware, but received an at-large bid (first in the program's history). The winner of the game will head to Clemson, SC to take on the Tigers on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m.. The Tigers are the No. 2 national seed for the NCAA Tournament.
 
NCAA COLLEGE CUP HISTORY FOR WINTHROP
This marks the 6^th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Eagles as they are still looking for their first postseason win. In 2012 the Eagles advanced to the Round of 32 by beating Southern Methodist 3-1 in penalties after the game was tied 1-1. Winthrop's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2002 after it knocked-off 13^th-ranked Coastal Carolina in the conference championship game, 1-0. The Eagles fell 6-0 at 17^th-ranked North Carolina. In 2006 the Eagles traveled to Old Dominion and fell 4-3 in penalties after 110 minutes without a score. In 2008 the Eagles fell 3-1 at William & Mary and then fell 3-2 at 16^th-ranked Duke in 2009.
 
NCAA COLLEGE CUP HISTORY FOR ELON
Elon will make its fourth NCAA College Cup appearance in the last five seasons. The first NCAA College Cup for the Phoenix came in 2011 as they traveled to 17^th-ranked Coastal Carolina, falling 4-3. In 2012 Elon was sent to Coastal Carolina for the first round of the College Cup and ended up with a 3-0 loss to the 13^th-ranked Chanticleers. The breakthrough year for Elon came in 2013 when it opened up the College Cup with a game at 24^th-ranked Clemson. The Phoenix advanced on penalties, 4-1 after a 1-1 tie. That set up a trip to #1 UCLA, where the run ended with a 4-0 loss in the Round of 32.
  
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The last time these Elon and Winthrop participated in the NCAA College Cup they each advanced to the Round of 32 by winning a shootout. Elon is 5-4-1 in the last 10 games while the Eagles are 7-1-2. Elon has been involved in 11 games this season decided by a single goal (including ties). Winthrop has been involved in 13 games decided by a single goal (including ties). In those games, Elon is 8-2-1 while the Eagles are 6-5-2. This year the Eagles are 3-3-1 on the road, but have won three of the last four on the road. Elon has only dropped one game at home all season and sports a record of 6-1. The lone loss came to Radford on Nov. 4, 2-0. While the Eagles have been involved in five overtime games this season, Elon has gone to overtime just twice.

BIG SOUTH HISTORY
The Eagles are one of three Big South members to make it to the NCAA College Cup this season as Coastal Carolina and Radford received at-large bids. It is the first time in the history of the conference that three teams have qualified for the NCAA College Cup and the first sport in the history of the Big South Conference to receive three bids to an NCAA Tournament. It is the fifth time the league has sent multiple members in men's soccer.  

SLOW START
The season definitely did not start off the way the Eagles had hope, going 1-5 in the first six games. The Eagles battled through inconsistent lineups due to injuries and four of the five losses came by a single goal. However, the Eagles bounced back from a tough loss at USC Upstate and righted the ship quickly with a 2-0 win over Appalachian State. That game marked the return of senior goalkeeper Fabian Broich after missing the previous four games. The Eagles have since posted a 10-1-2 mark. It was the third time in the program's history an Eagle team had a losing record through six games and finished the season with a winning record. The last time was 2012 when the team started 2-4 and finished 12-9-2.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
Winthrop and Elon have just three common opponents on the year. Elon had wins over Campbell (2-0) and the College of Charleston (1-0) while it fell to Radford 2-0. Winthrop defeated #25 Radford 1-0 and Campbell twice (4-1/4-0) while falling to the College of Charleston 1-0.
 
NCAA RANKING (THROUGH GAMES OF NOV.15)
The Eagles remain 11^th in the country in scoring at 2.16 per game. After four consecutive shutouts the Eagles have moved to 59^th in goals against average. Max Hasenstab has moved up to sixth nationally in scoring at 1.76 points per game. He's ranked fourth in goals per game, fifth in shots on goal per game and seventh in total goals (13). Jordi Lluch is now 40^th in points per game at 1.32 but 30^th in goals per game and 20^th in total goals (11). Elon is 31^st in scoring offense at 1.79 per game. The offense is 29^th in total goals and 41^st in total assists.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Elon is a former member of the Big South Conference so there is a little bit of history in this matchup. This will be the 13^th meeting all-time as the Eagles hold a slight edge in the series 6-5-1. The two teams met in the Eagles third game of 2014 in the opening game of a tournament at UNC Wilmington. The Eagles fell 1-0 despite a big advantage in corner kicks (14-3). The difference in the game was a penalty kick in the 9^th minute by James Brace. Max Hasenstab did not play in that meeting as he missed the first four games of 2014 and Jordan Stoddart did not play either after having been named Big South Attacking Player of the Week prior. Winthrop has never won a road game at Elon, suffering a 4-0 defeat in their last trip there in 2009. The best result for Winthrop at Elon came in 1991 in a 3-3 tie. In the 12 meetings, Winthrop has scored 29 goals while Elon has scored 22 goals.