Men's Soccer | 11/9/2016 4:30:00 PM

STATESBORO – The Georgia Southern men's soccer team returns to action on Friday, Nov. 11 in the semifinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Championships hosted by Georgia State. The Eagles are the No. 2 seed in the tournament and earned a first-round bye for the third consecutive year. They will play at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of the first-round game between Georgia State and Howard. The game between the Panthers and Bison will be played on Thursday, Nov. 10.

MATCH SNAPSHOT 
Sun Belt Conference Championship Semifinal (Tournament Home Page)
Friday, Nov. 11   |  6:30 p.m. EST   |   GSU Soccer Complex (Atlanta, Ga.)
Live Stats   |  Live Video

EAGLES AGAINST GEORGIA STATE
Georgia State holds the all-time series lead over the Eagles with a 22-10-6 advantage, including 12-3-1 in favor of the Panthers in Atlanta. The Eagles are 2-1-1 against GSU in the last three years, including a 3-1 win in Atlanta earlier this year. The two programs met at least once every year from 1980 to 2001. In that span, the two played twice a year seven times from 1985 through 1991. The two have also met twice in the last two seasons. In those nine years, Georgia State is 11-4-3 against the Eagles, including 5-1-1 in the seven games that were contested in Atlanta. The Eagles and Panthers have met five times in a conference tournament with the two tied 2-2-1.

EAGLES AGAINST HOWARD
The Eagles are 1-2 all-time against Howard, including a 2-0 win by the Bison this season on Oct. 29. The Bison claimed the first meeting between the two 2-1 on Oct. 18, 2014 in Statesboro with Georgia Southern taking last year's meeting 2-0 in Washington, D.C. The two have not met in the post season.

FIVE RECOGNIZED BY CONFERENCE OFFICE
The Sun Belt Conference announced the 2016 All-Sun Belt Conference teams, as well as the individual award winners, Wednesday afternoon. Four Georgia Southern men's soccer players along with head coach John Murphy were honored by the league office after the Eagles claimed their first-ever regular-season conference title last week.

Sophomore defender Emil Laursen was named a first-team All-Sun Belt selection and was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year as voted on by the league's coaches. Murphy, in his first season at the helm of the program, was honored as the Sun Belt Coach of the Year. Joining Laursen on the first team is junior forward Blake Wilson. Midfielders Nick Wells and Sander Wang were named to the second team.

LAST TIME OUT
The Eagles sent their three seniors out in fine fashion on Saturday, Nov. 5, as the Eagles defeated long-time rival Appalachian State 3-1 and claimed a share of the regular season Sun Belt Conference title. The game against the Mountaineers served as Senior Night with the Eagles recognizing three graduating players – Chris MacMurray, Aidan Reising and Jeremy Rector – prior to the game. In the 30th minute, Rector fittingly put the Eagles up 1-0 when he scored his second goal of the season off a feed from Adam Abdellaoui. Not to be out-down by his fellow senior, Reising then gave the Eagles a little breathing room nearly three minutes later with an unassisted goal of his own that came off a deflected shot. Redshirt freshman David Rhoades closed out the Eagles' scoring with a goal in the 59th minute off a feed from junior Nick Wells. App State was able to get a goal back in the 69th minute when Keegan Tanaka took a deflected ball and put it into the net. The Eagles finish the regular season tied with Coastal Carolina atop the standings with 10 points each and identical 3-1-1 league records. It is the first conference title for the men's soccer program.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN AND THE POST SEASON
Georgia Southern has played in 32 conference tournaments dating back to 1980. The Eagles are 23-27-4 all-time in the post season. GS went 10-8 in the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC, now the Atlantic Sun) from 1980 to 1991. The Eagles then made 21 appearances in the Southern Conference (SoCon) tournament, going 12-18-3 from 1992 to 2013. In just two years in the Sun Belt Conference, the Eagles are 1-1-1 in tournament games, including an appearance in the 2014 championship match against Hartwick. The Eagles have earned first-round byes each of the last two years and are 1-0-1 in semifinal games, including a 2-1 win over Georgia State in 2014 and a 3-3 draw last year with the Panthers advancing to the final 5-4 on penalty kicks.

BEST CONFERENCE RECORD FOR EAGLES IN A DECADE
Georgia Southern's 3-1-1 (.700) record in conference action during 2016 is the best league mark for the Eagles since the 2006 season. That year, GS went 4-1-2 (.714) in the SoCon under the direction of then first-year head coach Kevin Kennedy and finished the year second in the league standings.

EAGLES AGAINST TEAMS RANKED IN THE NSCAA SOUTHEAST REGION POLL
The Eagles have defeated four teams in 2016 that were ranked in the top-10 of the NSCAA Southeast Region Poll. Those victories include: 2-1 on the road over Stetson (7th) on Sept. 2, 2-0 at home over North Florida (5th) on Sept. 24, 3-1 on the road over Georgia State (9th) on Oct. 8 and 2-1 at home against Hartwick (5th) on Oct. 22.

BEST IN THE PEACH STATE
The state of Georgia features three NCAA Division I men's soccer programs in Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Mercer. Earlier this season, the Eagles defeated both programs on the road to stand alone atop the Peach State. In those games, GS out-scored the Panthers and Bears 5-2.

FJAER AND LAURSEN AMONG NATION'S BEST
Redshirt freshman Torgeir Fjear and sophomore defender Emil Laursen are currently in the top-50 in two statistical categories. Fjaer is 24th in the nation with 4.79 saves per game while Laursen is tied for 42nd in Division I with three game-winning goals.

LAURSEN THE "SENIOR" LEADER ON DEFENSE
Sophomore defender Emil Laursen has been the "senior" leadership for the Eagles' back row this season. He has started 13 games for the Eagles and played every minute in 10 games. In those 10 games, the Eagles are an impressive 5-2-3.

ABDELLAOUI AND LAURSEN EARN COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONORS
Georgia Southern men's soccer student-athletes Adam Abdellaoui and Emil Laursen have earned College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District 4 First-Team honors it was released by the organization Thursday morning. Abdellaoui, a junior computer science major from Alpharetta, Ga., currently boasts a 3.47 GPA. Laursen currently holds a 4.00 GPA as a sophomore economics major.


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