Lexington, Ky. --- The Georgia Southern men's soccer team (3-0-3, 0-0-1 SBC) drew with the Kentucky Wildcats (1-2-3, 0-0-1 SBC) 0-0 in a scoreless opening match to start the two teams' Sun Belt play. 

It was Georgia Southern who were the offensive aggressors early as after surviving two early Kentucky corners, the Eagles amassed three shots, with two on target, in the opening 15 minutes. Additionally, the Wildcats had six new substitutions enter in the first half to only two for Southern. One of these players for the Eagles was last year's leading goal scorer, Ty WIlson, who was on the pitch for 28 minutes in his first appearance of the season. Georgia Southern did not have a corner kick attempt in the opening 45, but were able to fend off five from Kentucky.

The second half saw the Wildcats go at supersonic speed on the offensive side, as they were able to put up 12 shots in the second half. Eight of which came in the final 20 minutes of the match. Fortunately for the Eagles, the back line held strong and learned their lesson from the late goal in the last match against UAB. However, Georgia Southern did not go without their chances. The best chance for Southern came in the 80th minute when an errant pass by Kentucky was stolen away by Ryan Holmes and a wide open Matthew Dean was one-on-one with the Wildcat keeper. Unfortunately for Dean, his shot sailed wide left. Additionally, with just 30 seconds to go, the Eagles' defense were able to deflect away a Kentucky corner in the final 30 seconds to seal the draw against an NCAA Tournament team just last season. 

The corner was one of seven on the night for UK with Georgia Southern attempting three. Although the Wildcats clobbered the net with 17 shots, each team had four on target. The 17 shots faced without allowing a goal is the most since September 22nd of last year  when West Virginia could not score in their 20 shots. After snapping his streak to start the season, Nate Martinez is back in the clean sheet column as he made four saves and picked up his third clean sheet in six matches, tying him for tenth in single season shutouts. Additionally, his now seven career shutouts ties him for seventh in Georgia Southern program history. 

After earning a point in the Sun Belt standings, Georgia Southern returns home for a non-conference matchup against 23rd-ranked College of Charleston. The match is set for 7 PM this upcoming Tuesday night (September 24th) at Bo Pitts Field.