The Winthrop women’s soccer team saw its season come to an end Sunday Oct. 28 with a 4-0 loss on the road to Gardner-Webb in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament. The women’s soccer team had many obstacles to overcome this season. Midfielder Izzy Barton said the team overcame a lot of struggles throughout the season. “The season went really well. We had a few bumps in the road because we lost a few key players to injuries but our team stayed together really well,” Barton said.
Johnathan Brabson, Associate Head Coach for the Winthrop women’s soccer team, expressed how proud he was of the girls on his team this season due to the setbacks of injuries faced during the season. “We had a very good start to the season but unfortunately the injury bug hit us in the worse way. To finish the season with the way we did would have been a disappointment for a lot of teams but when you have two ACL injuries to starters I was proud how we competed in many of our last games,” Brabson said.
Despite going through some setbacks with injuries during conference play the Lady Eagles still came out on top in some important games. A couple of the women soccer players, including midfielder Megan Loveland, expressed how good it felt to beat High Point this season as they celebrated senior day. “My favorite part of the season was when we beat High Point on senior day. Our biggest competition was High Point because we haven’t beaten them since 2011 and we won 2-1 in overtime,” Loveland said.
The Lady Eagles traveled to a couple of different states to face off against other teams this season. “My favorite part was probably when we traveled down to Jacksonville, FL for two of our games it was fun to be in a new place and play soccer in Florida,” Barton said. Another thing through traveling together as a team and always being with one another, “we have all gotten so close as a team and everyone was encouraging and positive this year,” Barton said.
The Lady Eagles made it to the Big South Tournament, all though taking the loss the team did better than their previous season. “We gave ourselves a chance to finish in the top half of the conference in spite of the injuries. To be able to finish a spot higher than last year is always exciting and to be able to return 95 percent of our team for next year is very exciting. There should be a lot of excitement looking to next year but we must start the process now to be ready for next season,” Brabson said.
The Lady Eagles close their season with an 8-9-1 overall record.
The Winthrop men’s soccer team faced competitive opponents this season. Defender Andreas Jackson has high hopes for the future season. “We have obviously had some trouble in the last few years, but I feel that this year was a step in the right direction for both the team and the program. For next year I expect a very strong connection amongst the boys, one strong enough to pull through on a few more 3 point weekends,” Jackson said.
The Eagles started the season off with a 6-0 victory against Georgia Southwestern. Throughout the season the Eagles played some intense games against their opponents but ended up short in a few games.
The Men’s Soccer team ends season on a high note with a 4-1 win against Longwood on senior night. The Eagles close their season with a 4-11 overall record.
