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Georgia Southern University Athletics

Georgia Southern midfielder Manuel Prieto (19) corrals a loose ball during a match against No. 1 Marshall on Sunday, Oct. 1, at Eagle Field in Statesboro, Ga.
AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics

Men's Soccer Graham Cooper

PREVIEW: Sun Belt Championships Berth on the Line for Men's Soccer Against Kentucky

STATESBORO - The Georgia Southern men's soccer team faces a win or go home situation on Tuesday, Oct. 31, with a berth to the Sun Belt Conference Championships on the line for both the Eagles and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Eagles carry a 2-8-6 record into the match with a 1-4-3 Sun Belt mark after dropping its previous match to the James Madison Dukes on Oct. 27. Kentucky comes in with a 5-6-4 record, including a 2-3-3 record in conference, after catching fire and upsetting both the top-ranked and second-ranked teams in the nation in back-to-back matches.

The Eagles and the Wildcats have met three times in series history, with each team holding a 1-1-1 record against the other. The Eagles beat UK in neutral site action in Tampa, Fla., back in 1994, left Lexington with a 1-1 tie in 2004, then fell to the Wildcats in Lexington, 0-6, last season. This match marks the first time that Kentucky will visit Statesboro for a match.

The standings have Kentucky as the sixth seed with nine points, but there is a way that the Wildcats are left out of the tournament. If Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, and Georgia State all win, the Eagles and the Wildcats would be tied for eighth with 9 points, and UK would miss the tournament due to the head-to-head tiebreaker with GS.

Georgia Southern, on the other hand, is currently in ninth in the standings with six points, but the Eagles control its own destiny to get into the tournament. With a win over Kentucky, Georgia Southern is guaranteed to mke it into the SBC tournament, with seedings based on the results of the other games. Should the Eagles and the Wildcats finish in a draw, Old Dominion would need to lose to West Virginia for the Eagles to get in (GS and ODU would be tied a eighth with 7 pts, but GS would own H-2-H tiebreaker with a 2-1 victory over ODU).

The Sun Belt Conference Championships will take place from Nov. 5 to Nov. 12, with the first two rounds being hosted by the top two regular season teams. The championship match on Nov. 12 will be hosted by the highest-remaining seeded team. Only the top eight teams in the conference qualify or the SBC Championships.
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