Rock Hill, S.C.— Winthrop men's soccer looks for a fourth straight win as it welcomes USC Upstate to Eagle Field Saturday afternoon.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS USC UPSTATE
This marks the 20
th meeting all-time between the Eagles and Spartans. In last year's meeting in Spartanburg, S.C. the Eagles scored two goals in the final 22 minutes to force overtime where
Jonathan Foster netted the golden goal in the 108
th minute. That win gave the Eagles a 10-9 edge in the all-time series. The Eagles have won two straight at USC Upstate while dropping the last two meetings in Rock Hill.
FOOT NOTES
- Eagles have won three straight games after a 1-0 victory in a non-conference matchup with the College of Charleston on Wednesday
- In all three wins the Eagles have yet to yield a goal
- It is the first time since 2015 an Eagle team pitched three straight shutouts
- It's actually the first time in program history the Eagles have won three straight games by a score of 1-0
- Freshman goalkeeper Gareth Shaw has been in goal for the last three games
- Shaw has a total of 14 saves (4.67 per game) in the three games, which includes a penalty in his debut
- Shaw is the first Winthrop goalkeeper to be in net for three straight shutouts since Fabian Broich in 2015
- For his efforts in the win over Longwood, Shaw was named the Big South Conference Freshman of the Week and then he earned Co-Defensive Player of the week honors after earning a shutout in a 1-0 win at UNC Asheville
- The Eagles have faced one of the toughest non-conference schedules where the opponents have a combined record of 58-25-26
- The combined record of all of opponents Winthrop has faced this season is 84-60-45 and 10-of-14 had winning records when facing the Eagles
- As of Oct. 19, six of the non-conference have winning records and all eight non-conference opponents are .500 or better (four of the opponents have eight or more wins and three have nine or more)
- Six of the eight non-conference opponents the Eagles faced have ranked in the region, three in the Top 16 nationally and another received Top 25 votes
- Junior Bryant Jimenez-Pearce and freshman Aiden Williams lead the team with two goals, while Sean Green, Louis Danielson, Christopher Cushing, Ben Goodman, Bryan Marshall and Nick Guido have one goal
- Opened the season with six straight games on the road
- This is the 48th season for the program and this game marks the 963rd in the history of the program with 452 wins all-time
- Daniel Ridenhour is in his seventh season as the head coach of the Eagles after serving the previous 12 seasons as an associate/assistant coach
- Winthrop has five Big South Conference Championships, which is the second most by any member in league history
- The Eagles have made six NCAA appearances, also the second-most by any league program
- Winthrop has an all-time record of 355-345-45 while in the Big South and the 355 victories are the second-most all-time
LOOKING BACK AT 2021
- Eagles returned five starters from the 2021 squad that advanced to the Big South Conference Tournament semifinals
- Jimenez-Pearce is the top returning scorer from last season (5g, 3a) as the Eagles lost three of the top four in points
- Sam Jones led all goalkeepers with 12 starts in 2021 and posted a 1.94 goals against average to go along with three shutouts
- Senior Sean Green and junior Grayson Woodard scored multiple goals last season
- Green had three goals and an assist to finish fifth on the team in scoring and Woodard had two goals and an assist to finish sixth in scoring
- The Eagles finished the 2021 season ranked 23rd in the country in scoring offense (2.06 goals per game)
ROAD TRIPPIN'
The Eagles opened the 2022 season with six straight games on the road starting with Mercer. Then they headed back to the state of Georgia to take on Georgia State (Sept. 2) and a few days later headed up to play Wake Forest. The fourth game of the year was at South Carolina followed by games at Charlotte and UNC Greensboro before finally playing at home on Sept. 20. Wake Forest, Charlotte and UNCG are currently ranked in national polls..
CHAMPIONSHIP ANNIVERSARIES
2022 marks the 20
th Anniversary of the first ever Big South Conference men's soccer championship by the Winthrop program. In 2022 the Eagles hosted the conference tournament and faced 13
th-ranked Coastal Carolina. Winthrop was the top seed for the tournament having defeated Coastal Carolina in the regular season, 2-1 in overtime when the Chanticleers were 10
th in the country. Winthrop captured the Big South Championship with a 1-0 victory in overtime thanks to a goal by Francis Wakhisi. The Eagles finished the season 17-7-1 after playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
2012 Championship Game Recap
It is also the 10
th Anniversary for the 2012 Winthrop men's soccer team that took a different path than the 2002 team to earn a berth to the NCAA College Cup. The Eagles battled through injuries in 2012 as it entered the Big South Tournament as the 6
th seed. Winthrop traveled to 3
rd-seeded Liberty in the opening round and pulled off a 2-1 overtime win. In the semifinals the Eagles took on 2
nd-seeded Radford and entered overtime with only 10 men as Alex Isern saved the day with a goal in the first overtime period to advance to the title game. In the title game, the Eagles scored two goals in the final 3:30 of regulation to advance to the program's 5
th NCAA College Cup Appearance. That year the Eagles advanced to the Round of 32 after knocking off SMU on the road in penalties.
SENIOR DAY
The Eagles will recognize nine seniors in a pregame ceremony.
- Jayden Mace, Defender, Seneca, S.C.
- 52 career games, 44 starts, 3,927 minutes, 1 goal, 3 assists
- Taeyoon Oh, Defender, Seoul, South Korea
- 36 career games (at Winthrop), 3,062 minutes, 35 starts, 1 goal, 3 assists
- Paolo Tedesco, Midfielder, Hookset, N.H.
- 18 career games, 1 assist
- Kyle Bardusch, Defender, Mooresville, N.C.
- Jacob Neely, Midfielder, Mount Holly, N.C.
- Ben Goodman, Midfielder, Savannah, Ga.
- 55 career games, 22 starts, 3 goals, 3 assists, 2,773 minutes
- Dean DePinto, Goalkeeper, Charlotte, N.C.
- 13 career games, 9 starts
- Sean Green, Midfielder, Auckland, New Zealand
- 35 career games, 25 starts, 4 goals, 2 assists
- Sam Jones, Goalkeeper, Savannah, Ga.
- 30 career games, 29 starts, 9 wins, 3 shutouts
LOOKING AHEAD
Winthrop will play its final home match of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. when it hosts Wofford College.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
To keep up with the latest news on the Winthrop men's soccer program follow the Eagles on Twitter (@Winthropsoccer), Instagram (@winthropsoccer) and Facebook (/WinthropUniversitySoccer).
