ASHEVILLE, NC— An own goal in the first half ended up being the difference as Winthrop fell 1-0 at UNC Asheville, Saturday evening in Big South Conference men's soccer action.

Winthrop falls to 3-10-1 overall and 0-6 in the Big South while Asheville improves to 5-11 on the year and 4-2 in the league. Winthrop will return home for its final two regular season games starting with Gardner-Webb on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.

"The last two games we've emptied the tank and left everything on the field," said Winthrop head coach Daniel Ridenhour. "The effort was there and the commitment was there but we gave up an unfortunate goal early on. It was a tremendous effort from every player as we created several scoring chances. It was just one of those games where we just couldn't put one away. Credit to Asheville and the goalkeeper had a good game. Now we'll try and finish the season strong with the last two home games and send the seniors out on a positive note."

In the 16th minute, Winthrop goalkeeper Kenneth Perkinson came out to play a ball in the air and unfortunately when he tried to punch the ball away it hit the head of an Asheville player and found its way into the goal.

The Eagles tried furiously the remainder of the game to find an equalizer but could not get one of their 21 shots in the game past Asheville goalkeeper Chris Katt, who finished with nine saves. Winthrop had 12 of the 21 shots in the second half alone, forcing Katt to make The Eagles also finished with an 8-3 advantage in corners. While Katt had nine saves, Perkinson finished with eight saves.