Winthrop men’s soccer holds off Brevard 3-2

Senior Jordi Lluch scored two first half goals to lead Winthrop men's soccer to a season-opening 3-2 victory over Brevard College, Friday evening at Eagle Field.

Lluch is starting at center back for the fourth straight season and he got his first goal in the 15th minute when he headed home corner kick service from senior Marco Gatzke. Gatzke placed a perfect ball to the head of Lluch at the near post as he guided it to the top corner at the far post.

Lluch’s second goal came in the 39th and was nearly exactly the same as Nil Vinyals served a corner kick and the Spaniard headed it home from nearly the same spot as before. The goal put the Eagles up 3-1 before the half.

The Eagles have now won six straight season openers as they improve to 1-0 on the year.

Following Lluch's goal in the 15th minute, the Eagles made it 2-0 a little less than four minutes later when Jordan Stoddart dribbled into the box at the touch line and his service across the mouth of the goal was redirected into the net by a Brevard defender for an own goal.

The Tornadoes made the Eagle pay for a mistake defensively as long ball bounced over the head of the Eagle defense and Gabriel Garcia chased the ball down just as Winthrop goalie Fabian Broich was about to try and scoop up the ball Garcia flicked the ball by Broich and into the open net in the 27th minute.

Leading 3-1 in the second half the Eagles had some opportunities to extend their lead but were unable to convert.

Broich finished the game with two saves while his counterpart Heath Turner made three saves as he played just the first half for the Tornadoes.

The Eagles have a quick turnaround as they will host Wofford College on Sunday night at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 9:10 AM with the headline "Winthrop men’s soccer holds off Brevard 3-2."