STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern head men's soccer coach John Murphy has announced the 2018 Spring schedule for the Eagles, which opens up this weekend at Eagle Field with Mercer on Saturday.
The Eagles will have seven dates in the fall - the five allowable against intercollegiate competition begins with Saturday's tilt against the Bears at 6 p.m. Georgia Southern will then travel to the Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 27 to take on the Charleston Battery of the USL at 3:30 p.m.
In March, the Eagles will play a Canadian Select team on March 3rd at 5 p.m. at Eagle Field for their one international competition of the Spring. On March 24th, Georgia Southern will travel to Morrow to take on Clayton State at Noon and the Atlanta Silverbacks of the NPSL at 1:30 p.m.
On March 31st, the Eagles will again be in action in Charleston, this time taking on Queens (NC) at 4:50 p.m. and the College of Charleston at 6:10 p.m.
The Eagles will then have two home dates in April, hosting Oglethorpe on April 7th at 4 p.m., then hosting their annual Alumni Game on April 21st, also at 4 p.m.
"We take our Spring very serious here," Head Coach John Murphy said. "We feel it's a great opportunity for players and coaches to develop individually and collectively. During the 8-hour week our team has been quite diligent in their workouts in the gym, at IronWorks, and doing a little bit of work with the ball.
This week we hit the ground running with Mercer coming in on the 24th. The best way to get better as a group is to play games against top competition. We have a strong group coming back, and our number one focus is to get our team in the best position moving forward for a challenging 2018 season."
When asked about his team's focus for the Spring season, Coach Murphy mentioned the defense as a key area he'd like to see the Eagles work on intently.
"I think defensive intensity, our shape, how we do without the ball is going to be key," Murphy said. "I think the way we move the ball is fantastic, but I think for us to become a top team, we have to do a better job in regards to concentration and execution without the ball, which is about the same for any top sport. It's what people expect from champions - defending properly - and it's something we need to demand from ourselves."
Georgia Southern finished the 2017 season with a 9-8-1 overall record, the program's first winning season since 2006, and returns eight starters and 24 players overall from last season's squad for 2018.
