Boiling Springs, N.C. - For the third straight year, the Gardner-Webb men's soccer team will take on the Winthrop Eagles in the first round of the Big South Men's Soccer Championship, with the match set for 7:30 p.m. this Thursday night at Greene-Harbison Field in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Gardner-Webb finished at 5-3-1 in conference play to earn the second seed overall heading into this week's conference tournament, where the Runnin' Bulldogs drew No. 7 Winthrop who went 4-5 in Big South action.

This will be the second meeting in a little over a week between these two teams, as Winthrop handed Gardner-Webb their only home loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat last Wednesday night.

Gardner-Webb is 1-2-1 all-time in the Big South Championship, having posted a 2-0 first round win over Winthrop last year.  However, in the first round of the championship tournament back in 2009, despite playing Winthrop to a 2-2 double-overtime draw, the Eagles advanced past the Runnin' Bulldogs in a penalty kick shootout to end GWU's season in front of their home crowd at Greene-Harbison Field.

The match is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start with the winner moving on take on the winner of No. 3 Campbell and No. 6 High Point in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Live stats for all the tournament matches will be available at www.gwusports.com, while live video will also be available by the Big South Network presented by State Farm at www.bigsouthsports.com.

To view the complete week twelve men's soccer weekly notes click on the attached pdf or go to the weekly notes link on the top menu of the men's soccer home page.

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