SOCON SEMIFINAL GAME PROGRAM

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GREENSBORO -- Second-seeded UNCG will host third seed East Tennessee State in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Soccer Championships at noon Saturday.
 
The critical game at UNCG Soccer Stadium looks like a match of even teams.
 
How even? One week ago the Spartans (7-2-2 overall, 3-1-2 SoCon) and Bucs (3-4-3, 3-12 SoCon) played to a scoreless draw on UNCG's home field.
 
Statistically, UNCG features the league's best offense.
 
The Spartans lead the SoCon with 22 goals and 57 points this season. First-team All-SoCon striker Theo Collomb, a freshman from France, leads the league with six goals to go along with three assists. Collomb shared the league's rookie of the year honors with top-seeded Furman's Jake Raine.
 
UNCG teammates Fernando Garcia and Mani Austmann rank second in the league with five goals apiece.
 
Garcia, a junior midfielder from Charlotte, had two game-winning goals this season and was a first-team All-SoCon pick.
 
Austmann, a sophomore from Iceland, also had two assists this season and was second on the team behind Collomb with 12 points. A second-team All-SoCon pick at midfielder, Austmann also had two game-winning goals.
 
UNCG's stout defense comes into the game on a streak of 225 minutes without allowing a goal.
 
Spartans defender Emmanuel Hagan, a freshman from Ghana, was picked first-team All-SoCon as well as to the All-Freshman team, while sophomore defender Mysonn Darden has started all 11 games and is the only UNCG player to log more than 1,000 minutes this season.
 
UNCG goalkeeper Niclas Wild, a freshman from Germany, made the All-Freshman team after posting four shutouts, including three in his last four states. He finished the season with a 0.82 goals-against average.
 
A pair of second-team All-SoCon players lead East Tennessee State.
 
Defensive-minded midfielder Kieran Richards, a sophomore from New Zealand, had two assists this season, while forward Jared Leheta, a freshman from Canada, led the Bucs' offense with five goals on 13 shots.
 
ETSU goalkeeper Josh Perryman, a junior from England, started nine games for the Bucs and posted a 0.81 goals-against average and five shutouts with an .822 save percentage.

ETSU holds a slim advantage with a 6-5-6 overall record against the Spartans. Both programs enter postseason play on unbeaten streaks, UNCG is 3-0-1 and ETSU is 3-0-2.
 
This will be the fourth SoCon tournament meeting between the Spartans and Bucs. ETSU has won the last two meetings in 2015 on penalty kicks and in 2016 by a 5-2 score. UNCG beat ETSU in a 2-1 double overtime thriller in 2014.
 
The winner of Saturday's game advances to the championship game against the winner of the other semifinal between top-seeded Furman and fourth seed Belmont.