Eagles soccer set for return to NCAA tourney

By Karl Lyles - klyles@heraldonline.com

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. -- Winthrop will dance again.

The fourth-seeded men's soccer team completed its run through the Big South tournament Sunday with a 2-1 victory over third-seeded Liberty at Gardner-Webb University.

The Eagles will learn who and where they will play in the NCAA tournament at 5:30 p.m. today when the pairings are announced.

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It was the Eagles' fourth time in the Big South championship game in the last five years. Winthrop will make its third trip to the NCAA tournament in four seasons. They will play either Thursday or Friday.

The return trip didn't come easily. The Eagles didn't play well to finish the regular season and had to go to penalty kicks in its first two tournament games to reach the finals.

“Playing two long games in a row; it's tough to recover,” tournament MVP Miquel Casajuana said. “My tank is almost empty.”

Casajuana is the second straight tournament MVP for Winthrop. Matt Skonicki won the award last season. Casajuana, a junior midfielder from Spain, gave his team wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals by scoring the game-winning goals on penalty kicks. His goal in the 85th minute against Coastal sent the game into overtime.

“He's the reason we were in the finals,” Winthrop coach Rich Posipanko said. “Him being named MVP was well-deserved.”

On Sunday, Liberty scored just 101 seconds into the game. Winthrop failed to clear a ball, and the Flames' Darren Amoo took control 25 yards out. He passed to teammate Alex Verville, who buried a shot into the far corner of the net.

The quick goal was a reminder of Winthrop's NCAA tournament game last November at William & Mary. In that game, the Eagles surrendered a goal in the first minute of action and couldn't recover in a 3-1 loss.

Liberty led 1-0 until Winthrop got the equalizer in the 42nd minute. Michael Luk passed ahead to Skonicki, who crossed to Stephen Nserko for the goal. Nserko's shot from 15 yards beat Liberty goalkeeper Panashe Nhekario into the left corner.

The game remained deadlocked until Skonicki's header gave Winthrop the go-ahead goal in the 74th minute. Nserko lofted a pass over Skonicki to the near post, where his header struck the underside of the crossbar. Skonicki followed his shot with another header into the goal.

“Stephen held the ball a little, and I was thinking, ‘This could be it,'” Skonicki said. “The ball dipped right over my head. I thought the first header was in, but we are drilled from the time we are kids to follow our shots. Once the ball came down, I was going to get it in the back of the net somehow.”

As soon as he scored, Skonicki raced to the far sideline and gave his father, Bret, a hug.

“This is something I will never forget,” the father said.

With the lead, Winthrop milked the clock. Luk dribbled in and around defenders, and Skonicki worked the ball at the Flames' end of the field, getting frequent time-consuming throw-ins and corner kicks out of his efforts.

Winthrop (11-5-4) has regrouped from a three-game losing streak to end the regular season. The Eagles lost 4-0 at Elon, 3-0 at Liberty and 3-1 at home to Coastal Carolina leading up to the conference tournament.

Posipanko saw the turnaround coming — to a degree.

“The second half against Coastal Carolina was better. But I was sort of surprised the way we came in here and played,” Posipanko said. “This was our goal all along, to get back to the College Cup.”

“It was tough to lose three games in a row,” Casajuana said. “We worked really hard to get ready for this, and we've bonded together again.”

Winthrop, the preseason favorite to win the conference, had 10 days to prepare for the tournament. Rain forced the event to start a day later than scheduled and relocated the tournament from High Point to Gardner-Webb.

“We had to use that time to get ready for this. It was like a new season,” Winthrop co-captain Cameron Alksnis said.