GREENSBORO, N.C. – Georgia Southern opened the 2014 SoCon Tournament with an historical 4-0 win over Elon. Sarah Purvis cemented her name in SoCon lore with the first no-hitter in tournament history. The three-time SoCon Pitcher of the Year fanned 13 batters on the day as the Eagles advance to the tournament's second day in the winner's bracket. The Eagles face Samford at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

"It is always good to get the first win, and this one was a tough one," said Head Coach Annie Smith. "Sarah (Purvis) pitched a great game to throw the first no-hitter in the SoCon Tournament which shows how big of an accomplishment that is. Everybody played a good game today and that is what you've got to do in postseason play. Now we've got to focus on tomorrow's game against Samford."

The no-hitter was the sixth career gem for the Eagle hurler who improves to 19-11 on the year. She opened the game with seven strikeouts in the first three innings to break her own single season school strikeouts record. The no-hitter is also the first gem against a SoCon opponent since 1993.

The Eagles got a run in the first inning as a result of three-straight singles to open the game. Aggressive baserunning in the inning resulted in a pair of outs, but Emily Snider was able to score the opening run off a wild pitch with two outs.

An inning later, Kaitlyn Johnson doubled the Georgia Southern advantage with a solo home run off the scoreboard in right. The Eagles added another run in the fourth on Lexi Allen's RBI fielder's choice to second.

Kourtny Thomas tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning on Allen's second RBI of the day.

Those runs were enough as the Eagles advance to face Samford in the second round of the winner's bracket. The game which starts at 4:30 p.m. can be seen live on SoConSports.com from Greensboro.

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.