STATESBORO, GA. – Six Eagles earned All-Sun Belt Men's Soccer honors, while Iceland's Thor Svienbjornsson was named the league's Freshman of the Year following a vote of the league's head coaches on Thursday. The Eagles claimed their largest awards haul in program history, besting the 1997 total of five.

A midfielder out of Iceland, Thor Svienbjornsson became the Eagles' first Freshman of the Year since 2006 when Jon Cox took the award in the SoCon. He has played 14 games this season including all five league matches with a pair of goals. He opened his scoring account against Stetson on October 7th and added another goal at Appalachian State in the 1-0 win over the Mountaineers. Thor also earned a spot on the All-Sun Belt First Team.

Three additional Eagles were also named to the All-Sun Belt First Team. Goalkeeper Jack Falle became the first Georgia Southern netminder to earn all-conference honors since Adam Webb earned plaudits in 2006. Falle ranks sixth nationally with 5.87 saves per game and has allowed just three goals in league play.

Junior defender Chase Park earned First Team All-Sun Belt honors for his strong play in the center of the Eagle defense. Senior striker David Vargas Masis tallied three goals and two assists in 12 starts to also claim First Team All-Sun Belt honors.

The Eagles put their other two strikers on the All-Sun Belt Second Team as Eric Dinka and Emmanuel Raji. Dinka, a junior from Coppell, Texas, scored four goals with one assist and posted the game-winning goal against NJIT in the home finale. Raji, a junior native of Lawrenceville, Ga., scored four times with three assists while starting all 15 games.

The 2014 Sun Belt Men's Soccer Tournament starts on Thursday evening with a 6:30 p.m. contest between No. 5 seed Appalachian State and No. 4 seed NJIT. The winner advances to Friday's first semifinal against top-seed.

Georgia Southern opens the postseason on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. against Georgia State in a rematch of a tumultuous regular season finale last Saturday. Thursday and Friday's games can be seen live on SunBeltSports.org while Sunday's 1 p.m. Sun Belt Championship Game can be seen on ESPN3 at WatchESPN.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. To purchase tickets call 1-800-GSU-WINS.

2014 Sun Belt First Team All-Conference
Stanley Broaden (Appalachian State, Senior, Forward)
David Vargas Masis (Georgia Southern, Senior, Forward)
Rashid Alarape (Georgia State, Freshman, Forward)
Cristian Marcel (NJIT, Senior, Forward)
Alex Herbst (Appalachian State, Junior, Midfielder)
Thor Svienbjornsson (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Midfielder)
Stephen McGill (Georgia State, Senior, Midfielder)
Alex Beranger (Appalachian State, Junior, Defender)
Chase Park (Georgia Southern, Junior, Defender)
Marko Drljic (NJIT, Senior, Defender)
Jack Falle (Georgia Southern, Junior, Goalkeeper)

2014 Sun Belt Second Team All-Conference
Stephen Chapman (Appalachian State, Sophomore, Forward)
Eric Dinka (Georgia Southern, Junior, Forward)
Emmanuel Raji (Georgia Southern, Junior, Forward)
Donovan Japp (Appalachian State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Jhevaughn Beckford (Hartwick, Senior, Midfielder)
Joshua Mercer (NJIT, Junior, Midfielder)
Ben Steen (Appalachian State, Sophomore, Defender)
Aaaron Jones (Georgia State, Sophomore, Defender)
Chris Locandro (Georgia State, Senior, Defender)
Jimmy Myers (NJIT, Junior, Defender)
Tom Buckner (Hartwick, RS-Senior, Goalkeeper)

2014 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year
Cristian Marcel (NJIT, Senior, Forward)

2014 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year
Marko Drljic (NJIT, Senior, Defender)

2014 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year
Thor Svienbjornsson (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Midfielder)

2014 Sun Belt Coach of the Year
John Scott, Hartwick