STATESBORO – The Georgia Southern men's soccer team returns home Saturday for just the second home game of the season. The Eagles have played seven of their first eight games on the road, going 3-4 in those games. On Saturday, the Eagles welcome North Florida to Eagle Field for a 7 p.m. kickoff in the 12^th meeting between the two programs.

MATCH SNAPSHOT 
GS vs. North Florida
Saturday, Sept. 24   |  7 p.m. EDT   |   Eagle Field (Statesboro)
Live Stats   |  Video (GS All-Access)

SCOUTING THE OSPREYS
Entering Saturday's game, the Eagles and Ospreys have met 11 times on the pitch and the series is tied up at 5-5-1. North Florida has claimed the last two meetings, including a 2-1 win in Jacksonville, Florida last season, but Georgia Southern boasts the longest win streak in the series, claiming three-straight wins from November 3, 2009 through August 27, 2011, including a 5-0 victory in Jacksonville in 2011. UNF's head coach, Derek Marinatos, boasts an overall record of 35-51-6, including a 2-0 mark against Georgia Southern, and is in his sixth season at the helm of the program.

North Florida enters Saturday's game with a 4-2-1 record, including a 3-2 win over No. 27 N.C. State on Sunday, Sept. 4 in Raleigh. The Ospreys have gone 1-2 in their last three games and 3-2 in their last five, including a 2-1 road win over Central Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 21. UNF started the season with four positive results in a row and have played their last three games on the road.

Milan Kovacs, Joshua Castellanos and Micah Smoak lead the Ospreys' offensive attack with 10 goals amongst them. Kovacs has scored four off 12 shots and boasts a game-winner while Castellanos and Smoak each have scored three. Castellanos has two game-winners to his credit and Smoak is 1-2 on his penalty kicks so far this season.  Seven players have started all seven games for UNF this season and five more have made an appearance in each game to this point. In goal, Juanes Fajardo has started four games, including three of the last four, but he has only played all 90 minutes in just one game, a 0-1 loss at South Florida. Tord Pederson has started three games, including the Ospreys' most recent contest at UCF, but has played no more than 65 minutes in a contest.

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LAST TIME OUT
The Georgia Southern men's soccer team wrapped up a three-game road swing Tuesday night with a game at Atlantic Coast Conference foe Duke. The Blue Devils were able to edge out a 2-1 win in the final two minutes at Koskinen Stadium and out-shot the Eagles 14-9 in a game that was nationally-televised on the ACC Network Extra, but the Eagles still had plenty of opportunities that could have swung the decision the other way.

Duke scored first in the 18^th minute to take an early 1-0 lead, but gave up an own goal in the 39^th minute to set the score at 1-1 following one half of play. The game-winner for Duke came in the 89^th minute.

FANS ENCOURAGED TO BRING THEIR OWN LAWN CHAIRS TO GAMES
Georgia Southern invites fans to bring their own lawn chairs to all home soccer games and sit in the grassy areas to the sides of the goals just off of the playing surface. Tents are not allowed and pets must be kept off the track and field.

LAURSEN, WILSON SWEEP WEEKLY SUN BELT CONFERENCE AWARDS
Georgia Southern men's soccer players Emil Laursen and Blake Wilson swept the weekly awards from the Sun Belt Conference office Tuesday morning after leading the Eagles to a 1-1 record last week, including a 2-1 win over Mercer. Laursen was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week while Wilson picked up Sun Belt Conference Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week honors.

Georgia Southern started the week on the road at South Carolina in a game that was nationally-televised on the SEC Network+. The Eagles led the Gamecocks for much of the game, but ultimately fell 2-1 late in the first overtime period despite strong play from both the defense and offense. GS bounced back on Saturday in a big way with a 2-1 win over a strong Mercer team that entered the weekend 5-1, including wins over South Carolina and Jacksonville. The win over the Bears broke a string of seven straight wins in the series by Mercer. It was the first win in the series by Georgia Southern since 2006 and the first win in Macon for GS since 2005.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN ATHLETICS TO AID LOUISIANA FLOOD RELIEF
Georgia Southern student-athletes are joining together to help raise funds for flood relief in Louisiana. GS Athletics will be asking patrons to join this effort during football, men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball home games until Nov. 7. The money raised will be presented at the home football game against the UL Lafayette on Nov. 10.

"Our hearts are with the people affected by the floods in Louisiana," said Tom Kleinlein, Athletic Director at Georgia Southern. "My hope is that Eagle Nation will contribute and we all can impact lives that have been affected by this devastation."

Kleinlein, Georgia Southern President Jaimie Hebert, and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee will be giving the donations to a UL Lafayette representative at the game.

This cause is a significant for one of the Georgia Southern student-athletes. The Sun Belt has two peer members based in Louisiana and while only one student-athlete hails from the Bayou State, she was directly affected by the disaster. The home of Taylor Thompson's grandmother was destroyed due to 4 feet of flood waters. Thompson is from Baton Rouge – one of the hardest areas hit - and is a senior on the GS women's golf team. The student-athletes at Georgia Southern find it particularly meaningful to be able to directly help someone with such a close tie to this university.

Georgia Southern student-athletes will be at each home game collecting funds. The athletes will be holding buckets located at the guest relations tents near Gate 8 and Gate 12 for football games, and at the entrance of the facilities for soccer and volleyball games. Georgia Southern is asking the fans of both teams to give generously for such an important cause. Cash or checks made out to "Georgia Southern Athletic Foundation" will be accepted. Donations can also be made at the Athletics Ticket Office on Lanier Drive during normal business hours or online at GSEagles.com.

MEN'S SOCCER WILL PLAY FOUR TIMES ON THE ESPN FAMILY OF NETWORKS
Four Georgia Southern men's soccer games will receive national exposure in the coming weeks with the Eagles having the opportunity to play four times on the ESPN family of networks, including one home game and two during the road swing that begins next week as well as one game in October.

The Eagles got their first national exposure of the year on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at South Carolina when the Eagles and Gamecocks played on the SEC Network+. The second game on the ESPN family of networks came on Tuesday, Sept. 20 against Duke in Durham, North Carolina on the ACC Network Extended.

The third ESPN game of September for the Eagles will be at home against Campbell on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The game against the Fighting Camels will be available on ESPN3 with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. at Eagle Field.

The fourth and final ESPN game currently on Georgia Southern's schedule will be on Tuesday, October 25. On that date, the Eagles will play at Clemson in a 7 p.m. game that will be nationally televised on the ACC Network Extra. Clemson is currently No. 7 in the NSCAA coaches poll and was the national runner up to Stanford last year.

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern next welcomes Campbell to Statesboro on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The game against the Camels will kick off at 7 p.m. and will air on ESPN3.

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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets.