ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Junior Nathan Rose (Bristol, England) scored his first career goal to put Gardner-Webb up 1-0 late in the first half, as Winthrop netted three goals in the final 35 minutes to rally for a 3-1 Big South Conference victory over the Runnin' Bulldogs on Wednesday evening.

Winthrop (10-2-1, 4-0-1 Big South) controlled the run of play for much of the second half, outshooting Gardner-Webb (2-10-1, 0-4-1 Big South) by an 18-3 margin over the final 45 minutes after holding a narrow 8-6 advantage in the first half. The Eagles held a 7-6 edge in corner kicks in the contest as the teams combined for 23 fouls and one caution.

Rose paced the Runnin' Bulldogs with his first collegiate goal, finishing an assist from Patrick Gurser (Frankfurt, Germany) as Ali Al-Gashamy (Kristiansand, Norway) took a team-high three shots, including two on frame. Matthew Swan (Newport, South Wales, United Kingdom) made eight saves in the match.

Charles Coulson, Patrick Barnes and Max Hasenstab each found the back of the net for Winthrop on the night, as Hasenstab, Pol Sole and James Skonicki all tallied an assist in the contest. Hasenstab attempted a match-high eight shots, putting three on frame, as Guilherme Avelar stopped four shots between the pipes.

Winthrop put the pressure on the Gardner-Webb backline from the first whistle, forcing a pair of skillful stops from Swan within the opening 14 minutes before the Runnin' Bulldogs countered, nearly snatching the early breakthrough as Al-Gashamy's 26th minute free kick was tipped over by the Winthrop keeper to preserve the deadlock.

The Eagles came within inches of the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute, when Jordi Lluch's hard bending header intended for the top corner struck the woodwork. Rose and the Runnin' Bulldogs would break the deadlock early on in the 37th minute, when Gurser crossed to Rose for the finish to give Gardner-Webb a 1-0 lead.

The Runnin' Bulldogs nearly doubled the advantage to 2-0 twice in the waning moments of the first half, as Gurser forced a stop by Avelar in the 44th minute before Rose turned a free header just wide of the post in the opening moments of the 45th.

Denzel Clarke (Atlanta, Ga.) produced the best early chance of the second half, pouncing on an errant pass by a Winthrop defender in the 47th minute before Avelar made a spectacular one-on-one save to keep the Eagles within striking distance.

Winthrop would pull level midway through the 66th minute when Sole's corner sailed clear through a crowd and found Coulson on the back post to knot the score at 1-1. The Eagles snatched a 2-1 advantage less than five minutes later after Hasenstab sent a ball into the box for Barnes, who finished close in from eight yards.

Hasenstab pushed the margin to 3-1 in the 85th, holding off a defender and slotting the finish into the bottom corner off a ball from Skonicki. Al-Gashamy nearly struck back twice in the final three minutes, seeing an effort blocked wide in the 87th before creating his own chance just outside the area and forcing a stop by Avelar in the 89th minute.

Gardner-Webb returns to the pitch on Saturday, hosting Radford in Big South play at 4:00 p.m. on Greene-Harbison Field.