News and Notes (Week 1)
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Record Book
Composite Schedule
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Sun Belt teams earn non-conference wins to open men’s soccer season
NEW ORLEANS – Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Hartwick each earned wins last weekend, the first of the 2016 men’s soccer season. The Eagles and Panthers both were paced by hat trick efforts in their victories while the Hawks displayed its typical defensive prowess in a shutout win.
Georgia State defeated Memphis 4-1 on its home turf on Sunday to earn the first win by a Sun Belt men’s soccer program over an American Athletic Conference opponent since the league resumed play in 2014. Sophomore Hannes Burmeister led the effort with a hat trick in which he scored all three goals during the first 20 minutes of the second half. Burmeister earned the first Offensive Player of the Week honors of the season.
Georgia Southern began its season with a 4-1 win at Houston Baptist last Friday after junior Blake Wilson notched Georgia Southern’s first hat trick since 1999. Freshman Justin Little earned the first Defensive Player of the Week award after he assisted on a goal, took two shots and led the defensive effort on the back row in the win.
Hartwick, the defending Sun Belt champions, began the season with a 3-0 win vs. St. Bonaventure behind senior Mike Rood’s two goals in the first half.
The 2016 Men’s Soccer Championship is set to begin Thursday, Nov. 10 at the GSU Soccer Complex in Atlanta, Ga. The tournament will be hosted by Georgia State University. All quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be streamed live on the Sun Belt Digital Network. The championship game is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 13 and will be broadcasted by ESPN3 and available on the WatchESPN app.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
August 30 (Tuesday)
Hartwick at Marist College 6:00 PM
Howard at Fairleigh Dickinson 6:00 PM
September 2 (Friday)
VCU at Coastal Carolina 6:00 PM
Georgia Southern at Stetson 6:00 PM
Lipscomb at Georgia State 6:30 PM
September 3 (Saturday)
VMI at Howard 1:00 PM
Appalachian State at ETSU 6:00 PM
September 4 (Sunday)
Central Arkansas at Georgia State 12:00 PM
Hartwick at Robert Morris 12:00 PM
Georgia Southern at Jacksonville 4:00 PM
September 5 (Monday)
UAB at Coastal Carolina 12:00 PM
RECENT RESULTS
August 26 (Friday)
Hartwick 3, St. Bonaventure 0
Appalachian State at Cincinnati Postponed
Virginia 2, Coastal Carolina 1
Mercer 1, Georgia State 0
Liberty 2, Howard 0
Georgia Southern 4, Houston Baptist 1
August 28 (Sunday)
Bowling Green 3, Appalachian State 1
Georgia State 4, Memphis 1
UTRGV 1, Georgia Southern 0
Howard at Pittsburgh Cancelled
August 29 (Monday)
William & Mary 2, Coastal Carolina 1
* - Indicates Sun Belt Conference match
(All Times CT)
Players of the Week
Offensive Player of the Week
Hannes Burmeister (Georgia State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Sophomore Hannes Burmeister scored a hat trick in the men’s soccer home opener to give the Panthers a 4-1 win over Memphis. Burmeister led the team in shots with six, five of which were on goal. Burmeister scored twice unassisted and once on a penalty kick. All three of his goals came in the first 20 minutes of the second half. He had one of the Panthers’ five shots in the 1-0 loss at Mercer, and one of only two on target. The Bentwisch, Germany native is just one goal shy of tying his season high record for goals and set a career high for goals in a game, surpassing his previous record of two. He also set a personal record for shots in a game and is over halfway to tying his career record of shots in a season from last year’s 12.
Defensive Player of the Week
Justin Little (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Defender)
Justin Little helped guide Georgia Southern to a 1-1 record in the first weekend of the regular season. The 5-11 true freshman defender played all 90 minutes of both of the Eagles’ contests and was a key component to the Eagles’ defense as they allowed just two goals on the weekend, one in each game. He also assisted on one goal and took two shots on the weekend. In the Eagles’ 4-1 victory over Houston Baptist on Friday night, Little earned his first collegiate start and was a strong presence on the back row as the Eagles conceded just one goal. In that game, Little assisted on the game-winning goal in the 11th minute as he sent a pass to junior midfielder Thor Sveinbjornsson who was able to find Blake Wilson for the go-ahead goal. He also recorded a pair of shots in the win over the Huskies. On Sunday, Little was once against a strong force on the back line despite the Eagles falling 1-0 to UT Rio Grande Valley. For the second straight game, the freshman defender played all 90 minutes.
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Notes
COASTAL CAROLINA EARNS PRESEASON TOP 25 RANKING
Coastal Carolina, a newcomer to the Sun Belt this season, earned Top 25 rankings in two national polls. The Chanticleers are No. 18 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com poll and No. 21 in the NSCAA Preseason Top 25. Coastal is coming off a 13-win campaign that was also highlighted by the program’s program-best regular season ranking of fourth during two weeks in late September and early October. In addition, Coastal ranked No. 20 in the final NSCAA poll, marking the fifth consecutive and eighth time overall that the Chanticleers have ended the season ranked among the top 25 programs in the nation.
GEORGIA STATE EARNS MARQUEE WIN
The Panthers earned a 4-1 victory over Memphis in their home opener on Sunday. Sophomore Hannes Burmeister scored a hat trick with three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to lead the Panthers to the win. The victory is the first for a Sun Belt men’s soccer program against an American Athletic Conference opponent since the league resumed play for the 2014 season.
WILSON’S HAT TRICK RARITY
Blake Wilson recorded Georgia Southern’s first hat trick since Jeremy McClure and Jeff Russell each had one in 1999 during the Eagles’ 4-1 win at Houston Baptist last Friday. Russell recorded the most recent hat trick prior to Friday night on October 31, 1999 against Wofford. The three goals by Wilson tied for fourth-most goals by an Eagle in a single game.
MURPHY ERA OFF AND RUNNING
By winning the first game of his tenure, first-year Georgia Southern head coach John Murphy joins former head coaches Ray Wells, Tom Norton and Kevin Kennedy with the distinction of having won their first games at the helm of the program.
HARTWICK ENDS STUNNING SEASON OPENER STREAK
Senior forward Mike Rood’s first-half brace helped the Hartwick men’s soccer team to a two-goal, first-half lead and the Hawks cruised the rest of the way in a 3-0 victory over visiting St. Bonaventure last Friday at Elmore Field. The win marks the first for the Hawks in a season opener since the 2011 campaign. Hartwick held a sizeable advantage in shots for the match, out-shooting the Bonnies 19-3. It included an 11-2 margin in the first half.
SUN BELT ENTERS YEAR 23 OF MEN’S SOCCER
The Sun Belt Conference began its third consecutive year of play as a men’s soccer conference last weekend after resuming the sport in 2014. The 2016 season marks the 23rd overall for men’s soccer in the league as it was sponsored from 1976-95.