STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men's soccer team hosts Howard University in its final home match of the 2017 regular season on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Eagle Field. It will be Senior Night for the Eagles as Georgia Southern will honor six players in a pre-match ceremony.

Georgia Southern (7-7, 1-2 SBC) has some momentum after putting together its best offensive performance of the season in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Atlantic Sun Conference regular season champion Stetson. The Eagles had season-high totals in shots (22) and shots on goal (12) and outshot the Hatters by an impressive 22-5 margin. Head Coach John Murphy is hoping that continues in front of what will be a great crowd at Eagle Field on Saturday.

"I think it's pleasing when you have a performance like that," Coach Murphy said. "We've had games like that on the road, but certainly to have one at home is satisfying. I thought it was a good marker for us at this point of the season. It's exciting that we're coming into this part of the season playing good soccer."

Howard sits at the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference standings at 1-12-2 overall and 0-1-1 in the league, but just last year, the Bison won a 2-0 decision over the Eagles in Washington, D.C. Howard also leads the overall series between the two teams, 2-1. 

"They are a competitive team," Coach Murphy said. "We went up and played last year, it was first time that I've played against them and I came away impressed. We expect a difficult game. These conference games are tough. The good thing about the Sun Belt, now, is that it's much stronger this year than it was last year, and I think next year will be even better. We're a growing conference. We take pride in teams like Coastal Carolina getting a result at Maryland, and Georgia State going up and beating Wake Forest."

Prior to the match, the Eagles will honor six student-athletes playing in their final home regular season matches - goalkeepers Robert Flott and Chase Herzog, midfielder Thor Sveinbjornsson and forwards Adam Abdellaoui, Nick Wells and Blake Wilson. Coach Murphy understands the emotions surrounding a team's final home match but thinks the Eagles will be prepared.

"With any top level sport, you have to be able to not let the distractions affect your preparation and ultimately your game performance," Coach Murphy said. "The seniors know how we feel about them, and the best way we can show those feelings is by going out and giving them a professional, comprehensive effort tomorrow night, and that's what the plan is."

ESPN3 will have the broadcast of Saturday's match against the Bison, and you can also follow along with the match via live stats. Tickets are still available as well for the contest via GSEagles.com/tickets.