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Georgia Southern University Athletics

Men's Soccer

Men's Soccer Closes Regular Season With Elon At Home

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Soccer team returns home for its final contest of the 2010 regular season. The Eagles (3-9-3, 0-5-1) play host to the Elon Phoenix (6-5-5, 3-2-1) Friday, October 29th at 3 p.m. at Eagle Field.

The Eagles are coming off a 1-1 draw that went to two overtimes Tuesday night on the road against Davidson. Georgia Southern's Luigi Clendening (Augusta, Ga.) came up big late in the Southern Conference match. Clendening found the back of the net to tie the score with just over seven minutes left in regulation. The unrelenting defense for both the Eagles and the Wildcats would hold strong through two overtime periods, not allowing a single goal.

"Luigi has been struggling to come back from a hamstring injury earlier in the year," said Eagle Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "We tried to put him in a position where he could take some players on and he got a little more comfortable as the game went on and he had a great individual goal."

Georgia Southern has won two of the last three home contests in the series against Elon. The Phoenix are winless in its last three games, most recently coming off a 2-1 loss at home to the hands of non-conference opponent Wake Forest.

Elon is anchored defensively by senior goalkeeper Clint Irwin who owns a .867 save percentage along with three shutouts on the year. Offensively, sophomores Gabe Latigue and Chris Thomas lead Elon. Latigue and Thomas have posted two game-winning goals each. Latigue is second on the team in goals scored with four and shots on goal with 45. Thomas is the biggest Elon threat, tallying eight goals on 53 shots this season.

"He's a very good individual player. He's quick. He's technical. He makes good, intelligent runs. He's going to be a handful," Kennedy said about Thomas. "But by the same token, they have a lot of offensive weapons. Elon is always a dangerous team and this will be a good test for us."

The Friday afternoon match at Eagle Field against Elon will be the final home game for six Eagle seniors: midfielders Steven Hunter (Douglasville, Ga.), David Leonard (Augusta, Ga.) and Matt Crowell (St. Augustine, Fla.), forward Jon Cox (Alpharetta, Ga.), defensive back Austin Steele (Kennesaw, Ga.) and goalkeeper Zach Buckley (Forsyth, Ga.).

"All of those guys have stepped up in various ways, whether it's through leadership in training, off the field providing guidance to the younger players or in their performance and getting the job done on the field," Kennedy said about his senior players. "I think they're excited to play in front of the home crowd for the final time."

After the regular season finale against Elon, Georgia Southern will have a week off before it travels for the Southern Conference Tournament beginning November 6th . More information on the seeding for the tournament will be released at a later date.

Fans can follow the Georgia Southern Men' Soccer team by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/msoccer or receive updates on facebook.com/GSAthletics or twitter.com/GSScores.

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