ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's soccer will play its fourth straight game away from home when it travels to USC Upstate Wednesday evening for a 7 p.m. contest at County University Soccer Stadium.
Winthrop has dropped four straight and off to its first 1-4 start in since 1999 with the last three losses all coming by a single goal.
The Eagles haven't quite gotten things going offensively this season after returning several key members from the 2014 team that finished third nationally in scoring. Senior defender
Jordi Lluch continues his streak of scoring as he netted his fourth goal of the season in the loss at Charlotte. Lluch is ranked 15
th nationally in total goals, 19
th in goals per game and 43
rd in points per game. Junior Max Hasnestab tallied his first goal of the season at Charlotte and the hope is this will get the 2015 Big South Conference Preseason Attacking Player of the Year going offensively.
Defensively the Eagles have continued to shuffle the lineup, but as a whole have been solid. Lluch has been the only player to start all five games in the back while
Kyle Kennedy,
Pietro Bottari, and
James Skonicki have all missed time as well as starting goalkeeper
Fabian Broich.
Upstate enters the game with a 2-2 mark having played two Big South schools already and a common opponent of the Eagles in Wofford College. The Spartans fell 2-1 in overtime to Wofford on Saturday following back-to-back wins over VMI and Presbyterian College as they outscored those two teams 10-0. Freshman Gordon Wild leads Upstate in scoring at 3.50 points per game, which ranks second nationally. He has seven goals in four games and leads the nation in goals per game (1.75). Sophomore Leon Schwarzer is second on the team in scoring at 2.0 points per game and ranks 17
th nationally with his two goals and four assists.
In goal for the Spartans will be Hassan Haddad, who has started all four games and is holding a 1.15 goals against average with two shutouts.
This will mark the first contest the Eagles have played at USC Upstate since either school's transition to the NCAA Division I level and just the fourth meeting since both schools made the move. Tonight will mark the 14
th meeting all-time between the two schools with the all-time series slightly favoring the Eagles at 7-6.
Winthrop has won four straight in the series, including a 5-3 victory in Rock Hill on Sept. 17 last season as the Eagles rallied from deficits of 2-1 and 3-2. Sophomore
Hector Fernandez, who has started the last three games in goal, started the second half of that game and made one save on his way to earning his first collegiate victory.
