BOX SCORE

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Sophomore Luis Grande (Caracas, Venezuela / U.E. Colegio Los Arcos) found the back of the net twice and senior Iyiola Awosika (London, England / Aylesbury Grammar) added a goal of his own, to lead Radford to a 3-1 victory over Winthrop in both club's regular season finale Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field.

"Today's win was a result of a good team effort with many different players contributing off the bench," commented Radford assistant coach Maciej Sliwinski. "This was an important Big South win for our program against a very talented Winthrop team. Our preparation and execution of a game plan was solid."

After a number of good scoring chances for both clubs, Radford struck with just 1:16 left in the opening period to go into the break up, 1-0. The Highlanders' 44^th minute goal came after the ball popped out of two players in on a tackle and right to Grande, who took a couple of touches and then slotted the ball into the back of the net.

Radford (9-8-1, 4-4-1 Big South) carried the momentum into the second half and extended the lead to 2-0 in the 56^th minute on Grande's second goal of the contest and eighth of the season.
 
Carter Mills (Culpeper, Va. / Culpeper County) got free down the right side and held off a Winthrop defender and had just enough room to get a cross off into the 18-yard box. Grande, who was trailing the play, collected the service at the top of the box and then bent a shot around a couple of players and past Miranda into the right side of the goal for a 2-0 lead.

The Highlanders added their final strike five minutes later when Awosika scored his ninth goal of the year. Bernardo Ulmo (Sao Paulo, Brazil / South Kent) drove a ball up field to Awosika as he broke free headed toward goal. Awosika calmly ripped a shot into the far left corner as he dribbled toward goal to Miranda's left.
 
Winthrop's (7-11, 4-5) lone goal came in the 88^th minute off a header from Adam Bundle.
 
Both club's finished with 14 shots and three corner kicks each.
 
“We have to quickly put this game behind us and get ready for next week's conference tournament. We are excited to have a chance to play on Thursday and will start the preparation right away,” Sliwinski said.
 
For the second straight year, Radford will meet Liberty in the opening round of the Big South Men's Soccer Tournament. Game time is set for 12 p.m. on Thursday in Boiling Springs, N.C., on the campus of Gardner-Webb University.