STATESBORO, Ga. – The 2013-14 Georgia Southern Athletics season begins this weekend with a pair of Women's Soccer road games against Indiana State and Indiana. The Eagles face the Sycamores on Friday evening at 7 p.m. GSU visits IU on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. to close the season's opening weekend.

Last weekend the Eagles got a preseason test at home against Georgia State. The Eagles conceded an early goal, but responded well for the 3-1 victory. Nora El-Shami scored a 12th minute equalizer for the Eagles. Abria Allen gave Southern the 2-1 lead in the 70th minute and Alex Murphy added an 89th minute tally to secure the victory.

Friday's game will be the first for Georgia Southern under the reigns of head coach Brian Dunleavy. An assistant for two years at Georgia Southern, Dunleavy was promoted over the summer to become the program's fourth head coach all-time.

The Eagles finished the 2012 season with the program's first major trophy, winning the SoCon Tournament Championship with a magical three-match run that featured three-straight clean sheets for the GSU defense.

Nora El-Shami and Sydnie Van Curen shared the scoring crown for Georgia Southern in 2012, scoring five goals each. El-Shami picked up a spot on the SoCon All-Freshman Team for her work.

Friday's game will be the first in program history against the Sycamores who were picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll. Indiana State took a pair of wins in the preseason with victories over Northern Kentucky (3-1) and Bowling Green (3-0). Live stats and video of the match can be found at GoSycamores.com.

On Sunday the Eagles will make the 90 minute drive southeast to Bloomington for the first match between Georgia Southern and Indiana. The Hoosiers were picked to finish 12th in the Big Ten Conference preseason poll. Indiana finished the 2012 season at 9-9-1 with a 7-4 mark at home. Live stats and video streaming of the match are available at IUHoosiers.com.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.