STATESBORO, Ga. - Fresh off of a Sun Belt Conference-opening win over Coastal Carolina on Saturday, the Georgia Southern men's soccer team hits the road for a midweek non-conference contest at Winthrop on Tuesday. (Live Stats)

The Eagles from Statesboro, Ga., meet the Eagles from Rock Hill, S.C., at 7 p.m. in Rock Hill in the first meeting between the two teams since early in the 2014 season. Georgia Southern (3-3) has won three of its last four, including Saturday's 2-1 win over preseason Sun Belt Conference favorite Coastal Carolina, while Winthrop (2-3-1) dropped a tough 3-2 double overtime loss at Georgia State in its last action on Saturday. 

Winthrop has been extremely tough at home this season however, going 2-0 with a 7-0 goal differential in wins over USC Upstate and Wofford. The Big South Conference picked Winthrop to finish fifth in a preseason poll of the league's coaches in 2017 and one of the keys for Georgia Southern will be finding a way to contain three-time All-BSC selection Max Hasenstab. The senior German striker has six goals in six matches this season and has 40 in his four-year career for the Eagles.

"Traditionally, Winthrop a strong program," Head Coach John Murphy said. "Since they've made the coaching change, their head coach Danny [Ridenhour] has done an excellent job of building up the program and getting them back to where they've been over the years. We expect it to be a difficult game at their place. They'll be very resolute defensively. This is the reason why we play the schedule we do. We admire Winthrop's tradition of excellence with men's soccer and these are the type of teams we want to play."

The match will be the first road match for Georgia Southern since the September 1st win at North Florida, and Murphy senses his team is ready for the challenge of a tough road test from the Eagles.

"Teams feel comfortable when they're playing at home," Murphy said. "Us, last year, we had so many games on the road, we actually developed a really nice mentality. We're going to play at a good facility on a good surface and there's no reason why we can't go out and play well. They're going to feel confident being at home, but I think we've developed a really strong road mentality since I've been here and we expect to continue tomorrow night."

In the 2-1 win over Coastal Carolina on Friday, a pair of Georgia Southern freshmen notched their first collegiate goals - defender Gonzalo Talavera and midfielder Aldair Cortes. Junior Javier Carbonell delivered the assists on both goals and now has four assists this season, which leads the Sun Belt Conference. All four assists have come in the three wins by the Eagles in 2017.

After Tuesday's road match, Georgia Southern will return home for another three-match homestand beginning Saturday against Mercer. Murphy is pleased with the progress and the momentum building from not only the Coastal Carolina win, but the first third of the schedule.

"Where momentum takes place is in between the games," Murphy said. "Once the game starts, it usually takes on a personality of its own. Can you have confidence in the back of your mind, based on your previous performances? The answer is yes. But I think we can draw more confidence from what we've done collectively over the six games, rather than just the one result against Coastal. The way we have played the first third of the season, we're pleased with that, and now we need to build on it."

Follow live stats from Tuesday's match at Winthrop and be sure to get your tickets for Georgia Southern's next home match on Saturday, September 23rd, against in-state rival Mercer. Match time is 7 p.m. at Eagle Field.