STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern head men's soccer coach John Murphy has announced the schedule for the upcoming 2018 season. The Eagles will play seven home matches and 16 matches overall, along with hosting the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championships.

The Eagles finished the 2017 season with a 9-8-1 overall record, the first winning season for Georgia Southern since 2006. The sledding will be noticeably tougher for the team in 2018 as the schedule features three nationally-ranked opponents as of the final United Soccer Coaches' Top 25 poll from 2017. Seven teams that advanced to the NCAA postseason are on the slate, and the Eagles will face five teams who rank in the Top 30 of the NCAA's RPI.

"I think we're fortunate to be in one of the strongest regions in the country for NCAA Division I men's soccer," Coach Murphy said. "So it makes a lot of sense, on a lot of different levels, to look to play the best teams regionally. It puts our kids into situations where it's going to bring out the best in them. We're also going to be bringing in quality opponents here to Statesboro, which is great for soccer on this campus and in our community."

Before the regular season begins, the Eagles will play a pair of exhibition contests, visiting Presbyterian on Saturday, August 11th, and UNC Asheville on Saturday, August 18th. The regular season begins with road action in Virginia, where Georgia Southern will play at RPI #20 VCU on Friday, August 24th, then play at RPI #29 Old Dominion on Sunday, August 26th. Both teams were NCAA Championships participants a season ago.

The Eagles will open up their home slate on Friday, August 31st, hosting North Florida at Eagle Park. Florida Gulf Coast will then visit Statesboro on Friday, September 7th. Georgia Southern will then travel to Wake Forest on Tuesday, September 11th, to face the Demon Deacons, who finished the 2017 season as the #1 RPI team in the country and No. 5 in the USC Top 25 Coaches' Poll. A visit to Jacksonville University on Saturday, September 15th, follows.

Georgia Southern returns home to face ETSU on Saturday, September 22nd, then hosts Winthrop on Wednesday, September 26th. A quick trip up I-16 to Macon to face Mercer on Saturday, September 29th, wraps up the month of September for the Eagles.

October begins with a home date against Florida Atlantic on Tuesday the 2nd. Sun Belt Conference play begins for the Eagles on Saturday, October 6th, when Georgia Southern travels to Howard. Next is a trip to Louisville on Tuesday, October 9th. The Cardinals finished the season ranked No. 7 in the USC Top 25 Coaches' Poll and #8 in the RPI.

The final non-conference match on the schedule will be a trip to UAB on Tuesday, October 16th. The Eagles then host Georgia State for Sun Belt action on Saturday, October 20th. The final regular season home game will be against Appalachian State on Saturday, October 27th, and the regular season finale for Georgia Southern will be at Coastal Carolina on Friday, November 2nd. The Chanticleers advanced to the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen last season, and finished the year ranked No. 15 in the USC Top 25 Poll.

"For the overall growth and development our program, I think the schedule is an indicator of where your program is," Murphy said. "We're playing such a competitive schedule in 2018, that it correlates with everything we're trying to do with our program. We're certainly not where we want to be, but we're moving in the right direction. With this kind of schedule, we can't be looking ahead, we will have to focus one game at a time. But we are excited for the challenge ahead."

The Eagles will host the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championships for the second time in the last five seasons on Thursday, November 8th through Sunday, November 11th at Eagle Park. Georgia Southern also hosted the 2014 tournament and advanced to the finals.