CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's soccer program will look to add to their trophy case with another Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer Championship when the Chanticleers open the 2020 conference tournament against Georgia Southern. The match is set for Friday, Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. and will be played in Atlanta at the GSU Soccer Complex.
Georgia Southern (1-8 / 0-6 SBC) and the Chants (5-1 / 5-1 SBC) have met twice this season with CCU coming out on top in both matches. CCU knocked off the Eagles 2-1 in overtime in Conway back on Oct. 25 and ended the season with a 3-0 shutout at Georgia Southern just last week.
The postseason has not been a stranger to CCU as the Chants have won 15 regular-season titles along with 15 conference championships.
CCU entered the Sun Belt in 2016 and won both the regular-season and tournament titles in both 2016 and 2017. The 2020 regular-season title is the first since 2017 and the Chants will be looking to make it back-to-back conference tournament titles in this year's tournament.
The Chants have had plenty of help in achieving a championship season as there were 25 new players on this year's team that came together as one in a short amount of time.
All-Sun Belt pick
Tor Saunders has given the Chants great play in goal. He has three shutouts and is second in the conference in saves (23) and save percentage (.821). He is third in goals-against average (0.81) and fourth in saves per game (3.83).
Offensively,
Marcelo Lage and
Marcello Jones are the team leaders. Both players are tied for sixth in the Sun Belt with six points. Lage is fourth in goals with three scores and second in points per game (1.20) and lead the conference in goals per game (.60).
Jones has a team-high four assists which also leads the conference as does he 0.67 assists per game average.
Ethan Hackenberg is second in game-winning goals with two, while
Mael Couteau, Lage, and Jones are tied for third with one.
CCU's 5-1 conference record is the best record in conference games since going 4-1 back in 2017. CCU also leads the conference in goals scored with 10 in conference action.
Live stats for the event can be seen at
www.goccusports.com.
For complete coverage of CCU men's soccer, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMSoccer (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
