THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The No. 4 seed Thomas University Men's soccer team will head back to Lawrenceville, Ga. with the season on the line, as the Night Hawks will battle the No. 1 seed #10 Georgia Gwinnett Friday for a third time this season in the A.I.I. Tournament Semifinal.
TU (3-4-2) edged out three other teams to claim the fourth and final seed in the A.I.I.'s annual postseason tournament. Of the Night Hawks' nine regular season matches, four came against nationally-ranked opponents. Friday will mark the first time in ten years that Thomas will partake in the tournament. The Night Hawks come off a physical match against Florida National Saturday that featured two, brilliant penalty kicks from Senior
Salvador Marin that led to a 2-2 draw with the Conquistadors. Marin averages one goal a game with a .563 Shots on Goal (SOG) Percentage.
Junior
Diego Azar (one goal, four assists) and Senior Mateo Arbalaez (two goals, one assist) have had productive campaigns despite facing elite competition all season. Azar and Arbalaez also hold a 50% SOG percentage each.
The Night Hawks saw split time in net, as both Sophomore
Josh Ricord (3-1-1) and Freshman
Miha Kristovic saw their fair share of minutes. Ricord holds a 1.44 Goals Allowed Average, recording 2.8 Saves a match. Kristovic has made 3.2 Saves a match.
Since March, the Grizzlies (9-0-2) have been the only team impeding Thomas from an unbeaten status. In both of Thomas' contests against the Grizzlies, Georgia Gwinnett was held to 11 shots or fewer.
Kickoff at Grizzly Soccer Complex is slated for 11 a.m. Links to follow the action can be found below:
Live Stats Live Video
NOTE: Video for all A.I.I. postseason competitions will be Pay per View.
For up-to-date information on these matches and other TU Athletics, visit
http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, match summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of TU men's soccer by following them on Twitter at
@NightHawksMSocc.
