RADFORD, Va. – Stephen Hudgens and Lucas Diniz scored goals for Radford, leading the Highlanders to a 2-0 win over Winthrop on Saturday night and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big South Men’s Soccer Tournament.

Radford (9-5-4, 7-2-1 Big South) will face No. 7 seed Gardner-Webb on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. – the Highlanders beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs 6-1 on Sept. 29.

Winthrop, the No. 6 seed, will travel to third-seeded Liberty for a 6 p.m. quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday.

The win stopped Radford’s three-match losing streak, and halted Winthrop’s (9-8-1, 5-4-1) unbeaten streak at four in a row.

The goals from Hudgens (36’) and Diniz (61’) were part of a night where the Highlanders controlled the match and outshot the Eagles 21-4.   Hudgens, playing up from his defensive position, found significant space in the middle of the field from 25 yards out, and ripped a shot past Winthrop goalkeeper Enrique Miranda and inside the near post to make it a 1-0 lead for the Highlanders.

Diniz delivered his second half goal when he took a pass from Jamie Summers at midfield and went 1-on-2 with the Winthrop defenders ahead of him.  Diniz bumped the defender to his right, beat the one to his left, took a shot from the middle of the penalty area that Miranda stopped, then finished on the rebound to give Radford a 2-0 lead.

Winthrop’s best chance came off the foot of Achille Obougou in the 66th minute.  A throw-in to the middle of the penalty area was punched out by Radford goalkeeper Ryan Taylor, but found Obougou, who had a clean look at goal and ripped a shot that Summers had to lay in front of on the goal line, keeping Winthrop off the board.

The shutout was the sixth of the season for Ryan Taylor.  Miranda made five saves in the loss for Winthrop.

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