Men's Soccer Announces 2012 Schedule
6/1/2012 9:40:00 AM | Men's Soccer
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Men's Soccer announced its 2012 schedule of games on Friday. The slate of games consists of seven league fixtures, five regular season home contests and trips to Wake Forest and defending National Champion North Carolina. Six of Georgia Southern's 17 games are against teams that played in last season's NCAA Tournament.
"We're very excited about the 2012 schedule," said Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "We feel this could be the most difficult schedule that we've ever put together at Georgia Southern. In addition to our Southern Conference games that are always extremely demanding, we've assembled a schedule that will really test us when we step out of conference play. We are set to play 10 opponents that finished with Top-100 RPIs last year with five of those finishing in the Top-50.
The season starts with three-straight road games, beginning with an August 26th trip to UAB for an afternoon matinee against the Blazers. The Eagles then travel to Wofford for a weekend tournament with games against Winthrop and Gardner-Webb on August 31st and September 2nd.
GSU's first homestand starts on Saturday, September 8th, with North Florida coming to town. Mercer makes the trip down I-16 just two days later for a game on Monday, September 10th.
The Eagles are back on the road for the rest of September and the first three games of October. The Eagles travel for games at Georgia State (Sept. 14), Wake Forest (Sept. 18), Jacksonville (Sept. 22), Presbyterian College (Sept. 26) and North Carolina (Oct. 2) to close non-conference play.
"We've got a lot of quality opponents on the schedule, but the biggest name for us is defending National Champion North Carolina," added Kennedy.
Southern Conference games start on Saturday October 6th at Davidson, followed by a visit to Appalachian State three days later on October 9th.
GSU comes back to the friendly confines of Eagle Field on Oct. 12th for the first of two-straight home games. The Eagles host Elon on the Friday night before welcoming UNCG to town on Tuesday, October 16th.
Southern is back on the road at Wofford on October 20th before facing Furman in a pivotal Senior Day contest. The final regular season game is on Saturday, October 27th, a trip to College of Charleston.
The 2012 Southern Conference Tournament starts on November 3rd with first round games at campus sites. The semifinals and final of the tournament is on November 8th and 10th from the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
Also on the schedule are a pair of preseason exhibitions against Georgia Military (Aug. 17) and Lander (Aug. 20). Game times for each of Georgia Southern's home contests will be announced at a later date.
"Our players are excited about the schedule," said Kennedy. "They are eager to get back to campus and start working toward our goal of winning the Southern Conference Championship and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament."
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