Thomasville, GA | Championship soccer for the Southern States Athletic Conference begins in the Rose City on Friday as the Thomas Night Hawks host the Faulkner Eagles on Friday, November 3,at the TU Soccer Complex.  #4 Thomas (10-3-3, 6-2-2 SSAC) will host #5 Faulkner (11-4-1, 6-4 SSAC).
 

Under interim head coach Billy Jeffery, the Night Hawks enter the SSAC tournament, unbeaten in their final eight matches of the season, going 7-0-1, including going 6-0-1 in conference play.  During the stretch, Thomas shut out five of their opponents and did not give up more than one goal in any match.  During the unbeaten streak, Thomas only allowed 0.375 goals per match, while scoring 2.25 goals while per match.  The run for Thomas consumed the entire month of October.

One of the opponents that Thomas defeated and shut out, during the time, was the Faulkner Eagles on October 12, at the TU Soccer Complex, by a score of 1-0.  Cameron Hawkins scored the lone goal in the match during the 88th minute on an assist from Diego Sanchez.  With the help of the Night Hawk defense, reigning SSAC defensive player of the week, Jorge Gonzalez, faced only one shot on goal, and was able to make the save.  In the match, Thomas took 10 shots, with four of them on-goal, while Faulkner took 11 shots, with only one on-goal.  

Faulkner has dropped four of their final six matches of the season.  During the spiral, the Eagles only scored 1.16 goals per match while yielding 1.83 goals per match.  For the season, Faulkner allowed 1.13 goals while scoring 3.31 goals.  

On the season, Faulkner has scored 53 goals off of 49 assists.  They have taken 283 shots, with 149 being on-goal, while allowing 145 shots, with 75 being on-goal. The shot taken by the Eagles equate to 17.7 shots per game, while allowing 9.1 shots per game.  Faulkner has a shot percentage of .187 while their opponents shoot at a .124 clip.  

Thomas, on the other hand, has scored 29 goals off of 20 assists.  The Night Hawks have taken 178 shots, with 91 being on-goal while allowing 142 shots, with 51 being on-goal.  As an average, Thomas shoots 11.1 times per game, while allowing only 8.9 shots per game.  Thomas has a shot percentage of .163 while their opponents are only shooting .099.

Faulkner has multiple student-athletes who rank in the top 5 of conference statistics.  Antoine Marques leads the SSAC in goals (13) and points (33), while ranking ied for second in assists (7) and fourth in shots (43).  Julio Souza sit fourth in goals (9) and points (20).  Gabriel Brockband is tied with his teammate in assists (7) and Thomas Buijs ranks fifth in assists (6).

The Eagle goalkeeper, Machalis Jackson has a save percentage of .766, good for fourth in the conference.  Jorge Gonzalez has the fifth best save percentage, in the confernce at .738.  Jackson has allowed 11 goals, good for fifth in the conference, while Gonzalez has the fourth best goals against average at 0.79.

As a team, Faulkner leads the conference with 53 goals scored on the season, while Thomas ranks sixth at 29 goals scored.  Thomas is fourth in goals allowed with 14, while Faulkner has allowed 18 goals, good for fifth.

The Thomas post-season run begins, at home, on Friday.  The match will be a part of a Men's/Women's post-season doubleheader.  The Night Hawk women will face Dalton State in game one.  The Men's match will begin at 3:30 or 30 inutes after the conclusion of the women's match.  The contest will be streamed live at www.tunighthawks.com.  Live stats will also be available on the same site.  For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by play, and feature stories of your TU men's soccer team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMSocc.

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