With just three games remaining, the Winthrop women’s soccer team boasts a 4-2-1 record against Big South opponents, placing Winthrop in the thick of a tight race for the conference playoffs.
Possessing 13 points (three points for wins, one point for ties), Winthrop sits in third place just ahead of High Point (12 points) but behind Campbell (15 points) and Longwood (17 points) in the conference standings.
“We just try to get better each game,” said head coach Spencer Smith. “We really focus on our next opponent and ourselves in terms of getting better.
“At the end of the day, whatever the standings turn out to be, they turn out to be. Our focus [and] mindset right now is just trying to improve from game to game.”
Winthrop has played one more game than some teams (including Campbell) and two more games than High Point, meaning the Eagles have fewer chances left to earn points and protect their placement in the standings.
The Eagles were picked to finish seventh in the Big South Conference preseason poll, receiving six fewer votes than Presbyterian College (voted sixth). Last Wednesday, Winthrop defeated the Blue Hose 2-1, scoring the game-winning goal within the last 10 seconds of the match.
“We’ll take them any way we can get them,” Smith said. “PC played a great game there — very, very good club and well–coached. We were just able to somehow come out with a win.”
The game-winning goal was scored by freshman Anna Kate Highsmith, who has scored five goals this season (all of which have come in the team’s last six games).
“I did not expect it to go in honestly,” Highsmith said. “The two other chances we had that we just didn’t finish on, I was getting so discouraged, but we finished and then won the game.”
Highsmith said she is eager to see how the team performs down the final stretch of the season.
“It’s crazy how fast this season goes. We’ve just been getting better each game, and so I’m excited for the next couple games,” she said. “We have some tough competition.”
Winthrop’s other goal in the victory over Presbyterian was scored by another freshman, Valentina Mosquera.
“We really needed that because we were down 1-0, and scoring that goal I think got everyone into the game more,” Mosquera said.
Smith described Mosquera as a very skillful, creative player.
“That first goal she scored, she just wanted to score a goal. You could just see it in her eyes. She was determined to get a goal,” Smith said. “That really, I think, made the difference in the match because if we go [into] halftime down one, it’s difficult for us to come back against PC, so that was a huge play.“
Mosquera came close to scoring once or twice more as the game came down to the wire before assisting on Highsmith’s game-winner. Mosquera was a nominee for Big South Freshman of the Week on Monday, though she was not selected for the honor.
Highsmith received the Freshman of the Week recognition on Sept. 27 after scoring three goals in the Eagles’ previous two games. She is one of three freshmen to receive the honor for Winthrop this season, along with Emma Smith and Abbie McCrea.
Winthrop lost 2-0 against Radford on Saturday but will look to bounce back Wednesday on the road against a Charleston Southern team that is 3-3 in conference play.
The Eagles will then return home for a high-stakes match against Campbell on Saturday before hosting UNC Asheville on Oct. 20.
The top six teams in the conference at the end of the regular season will play in the postseason. Winthrop would host a quarterfinal match if the team finishes with the third or fourth-best record in conference play.
The Big South quarterfinals will take place from Oct. 29-31 (Friday through Sunday), with the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 4 and the Championship on Sunday, Nov. 7.
