BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb (2-5) will face Winthrop (0-7) in their home finale in the 2023 season. The Runnin' Bulldogs are coming off a three-game road trip across South Carolina going 1-2 in those contests. Last season, the 'Dogs defeated Winthrop for the first time in school history to start league action at 1-0.
 
Last time in Spangler Stadium, GWU nearly pulled off an upset of Campbell to hand them their first loss within conference play this season. The time before that, they defeated Radford for their first Big South victory of the year as well as Interim Head Coach Maddie Martin's within the league.
 
Gardner-Webb has been led by Bria Foley on the offensive end of the field since the start of conference play as she has tallied four goals in five consecutive games. She notched back-to-back nine-point outings as she added five assists in those games to set a career-high in both those categories. She is leading the team in goals and points this season, while ranking second in assists. The stellar numbers have soared her into seventh in program history in each of those stats across a player's career.
 
Jada Preston has had another standout season in Boiling Springs as she has led the team in assists for most of the year with 24. She is currently three away from tying her season-high that she set in 2022.
 
There have been another five players who have collected 20 or more and seven who are scoring at least one point per game. Aimie Perino is third (28), followed by Brittany Sherrod (25), Emma Duchscherer (23), Rylee Gonzalez (22), Alera Cornett (20) and Lauren Connor (17).
 
Defensively, they have seen great production from Heather Lobas and Grace Briggs as they rank among the top players in the conference and in the nation. Griggs has 40 GBs and 32 CTs and sits just one caused turnover away from tying the single season record at the Gardner-Webb. Lobas has 29 GBs and 27 CTs with the caused turnovers being fourth in GWU history.
 
This past weekend, Gardner-Webb's Danielle Burke collected her 500^th career save as she collected a season-high 15 at Furman. She now has 503 during her time in college and is nearing breaking the 3000 minutes played barrier next game as she has 2900 coming into the week.
 
Winthrop has been led by Ellie Dutton in points who has 33 on the year. Molly Dankowski is tops on the team in goals as she has 24 in 2023 with Scarlet Ciffarelli providing 12 assists to lead the Eagles. Dankowski also is first for Winthrop in caused turnovers (17), draw controls (39) and groundballs (21).
 
The first draw is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. between the Eagles and Runnin' Bulldogs. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Mark Binetti on the call.