Eagle Men's Soccer Takes on No. 25 Charleston
10/15/2010 7:23:00 PM | Men's Soccer
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Soccer team returns to Southern Conference action with a single match Saturday at the College of Charleston. The 7 p.m. contest pits the Eagles against the SoCon-leading Cougars at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium in North Pleasant, S.C. Georgia Southern, in the midst of a five-game stretch of road trips, plays its second of four matches in the state of South Carolina. After facing Charleston Saturday the Eagles travel to Clemson to face the Tigers Tuesday at 7 p.m.
College of Charleston, possessing a 3-0-1 mark in the league and 8-2-2 record overall, cracked the national rankings last week at number 25. The Cougars played UNC Greensboro to a 2-2 double overtime draw at Greensboro, N.C., Wednesday night and extended their unbeaten streak to 10 matches. The Cougars and Eagles have met 18 times with Charleston posting 16 wins to one for Georgia Southern. The two teams played to a tie in 2004.
"Charleston is obviously traditionally a very good team," said Georgia Southern Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "They are well-coached and organized and they have some very dynamic players. Charleston is playing with a lot of confidence and they are getting great results. For us it's going to be an emphasis on playing our game and executing the things we have been working on. It's going to be a tough game."
The Eagles are looking to rebound from a 0-1 loss against Presbyterian College Tuesday night in non-conference action. Georgia Southern mounted an incredible offensive attack, but could not find a score to match an early first-half Blue Hose goal.
The offensive attack is led by senior forward Jon Cox (Marietta, Ga.) and freshman midfielder Hunter Norton (Evans, Ga.) with eight and seven points, respectively. Freshman forward Ethan LePan (Martinez, Ga.) is just behind the top two with six points off three goals. Junior goalkeeper Ryan Platt has started eight games and has 38 saves on the year.
"Saturday is a wonderful opportunity for the guys to go away and to play a team that is ranked in the top 25 and a conference rival," Kennedy said. "At the end of the day it's a conference game and three points (toward the tournament seedings) are on the line.
Sophomore midfielder/forward Francis Twohig leads the Cougars with five goals on the year in 10 matches and 14 points overall while sophomore midfileder Sean De Silva owns the top point total with 14 off four goals and six assists. Kees Heemskerk has logged over 1,000 minutes in goal with 51 saves and a 0.64 goals against average.
For more information on Eagle men's soccer, visit GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/msoccer or follow the team at facebook.com/GSAthletics or twitter.com/GSScores.
