The Winthrop men’s soccer team earned a 3-0 victory over Presbyterian College on Sunday night in the quarterfinal round of the Big South Tournament, marking the team’s first postseason win since 2015.
“I’m at a little bit of a loss of words because it’s been a hard season,” said head coach Daniel Ridenhour.
“Really happy for the guys. They deserved it [and] played excellent,” Ridenhour said. “I thought tonight we were as good as we could be — probably unlucky not to score a couple more.”
Winthrop put eight shots on goal compared to Presbyterian’s four and outshot the Blue Hose 17 to six. The Eagles also attempted eight corner kicks while Presbyterian only attempted one.
“Credit to their goalkeeper,” Ridenhour said. “He made four or five outstanding saves tonight.”
Winthrop’s Sam Jones recorded four saves of his own on the outing, posting his third shutout of the season. Jones praised his teammates for their ability to communicate well on defense.
“Whenever you’ve got a good defensive relationship between a goalkeeper and a back three [or] back five, you can rely on them, you can communicate with them,” he said. “We’re at the point now where I can say something you might not understand, but they’ll understand it.
“That chemistry is just crucial for teams that can go far in the playoffs, and I know that this team — with this defensive relationship, with defense, midfield and attack — will go very far.”
Offensively, two of Winthrop’s goals were scored by freshmen, and all three goals were assisted on by freshmen.
One of Winthrop’s goal scorers was Brigham Larsen, who recorded a league-leading 11th goal of the season Sunday night. On Monday, Larsen was named Big South Freshman of the Year.
Along with Larsen, Winthrop’s William Cardona and Ethan Stevenson were voted onto the conference’s All-Freshman team. (Cardona recorded an assist during Sunday’s win while Stevenson recorded a goal and an assist. )
Larsen finished second in voting for the Offensive Player of the Year award, still earning him a spot on the First-Team All-Conference list. Winthrop junior Sean Green (who’s in his first year with the Eagles after transferring in from Missouri State) was named to the Second-Team All-Conference list.
Winthrop’s Cardona also earned an appearance on the Honorable Mention All-Conference list, while junior Ben Goodman was named to the All-Academic Team and was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s sports information directors.
“There’s a lot of new guys on this team that have done fantastic, and we’ve got a couple seniors that have stepped up into a leadership role and done well,” said Ridenhour, who received one first-place vote for Coach of the Year but finished second in points behind Campbell head coach Dustin Fonder.
“This year has been really, really tough on him (Ridenhour),” Jones said. “He’s had to coach practically by himself. He’s done a lot of work for us, [and] we’re really grateful for him.
“I know it means a lot to him — for him to break his own personal records — and I know he’s setting goals to not stop here, just to keep going. We love him. He’s done a great job. He’s sacrificed a lot for us, and we could not be more proud and more thankful for him.”
Ridenhour led Winthrop to a 4-4 record in conference play this season (with those four losses all coming by just one goal apiece) after going 0-7-1 against Big South opponents last season. The Eagles were also picked to finish ninth (out of nine teams) in the Big South preseason poll.
“I was excited that our guys were able to kind of use that as motivation,” Ridenhour said. “I’m not going to lie, it’s taped up all over the locker room. They look at it every day, and they know ninth wasn’t where they should’ve been.”
With Sunday’s win, the Eagles are set to face top-seeded Campbell University on Wednesday in Buies Creek. If they win, they would advance to the Big South Championship game.
“It’s crazy, man,” Jones said. “I’ve been here for three years, and we’ve never been in this position before, so we’re just working hard to keep pushing boundaries and keep going further, trying to replicate some of the success we’ve had back in 2012 and those great times.”
