DELAND, Fla. - The Stetson men's soccer team heads up to Hodges Stadium to face North Florida Saturday night at 7p.m., to continue conference play. The match will be streamed through North Florida athletics website.

"UNF has a lot of fourth through sixth year guys so they're really strong defensively," head coach Emmett Rutkowski said "They're good with set pieces and a tough team to break down. I think we need to execute better in the final third, it's been low goal scoring affairs when we've played against them. One thing we're going to have to do a better job of is coming out right away ready to play. We have been a bit sluggish the last few years. Last year if we win this game it puts us in the front running to win the ASUN regular season. We outshot them 15-3 and lost 1-nothing, but you have to credit UNF. They're strong, big, athletic and work really hard. Figuring how to break that will be the biggest part of this week."

UNF will resume conference play after a loss to Georgia Southern [1-0] at Jacksonville on Tuesday.  Previously in conference play, North Florida fell to Central Arkansas, 2-0, at Conway, Arkansas, as its only ASUN match. The Ospreys record entering this match is 0-5-0 overall. UNF hasn't given up more than two goals in a game this season so far. Junior midfielder Angus Taylor has scored the lone goal this year for the Ospreys rippling the mesh against UCF in the 54th minute. This year the Jacksonville-based side have conceded an average of 1.6 goals per game.

The Hatters resume conference play on the road, traveling within the ASUN for the first time this season. The Hatters only conference match played thus far was a 2-0 win over Queens at the Athletic Training Center on September 3. Over this past week, Stetson returned from California after recording two draws. The first match was a 1-1 tie against UC Riverside Friday night and the final match was played to a score of two a piece against Cal State Fullerton.

Two of the three goals over the weekend were scored via the penalty spot with junior midfielder Gio Rodriguez and redshirt-sophomore Luis Lara Delgado successfully converting. Freshman defender Sheldon Sackey scored his first career goal at CSF, knocking in a shot off of a free kick from sophomore midfielder Charles Ahl, who also drew the foul to set up the chance. Redshirt junior Owen Jack recorded 10 saves over this past weekend and he currently leads the ASUN with 22 saves.

"I thought [the] California [trip] was really positive," Rutkowski said about the team's performance over the west coast road trip. "We went up against Riverside, 2-1, before the goal got called back, so I thought there was a possibility of winning both those games, not just coming from behind and sneaking a result. With Fullerton, the first half was one of the best performances we've had all year. There was a decision that affected the game in the second half, and we went down to 10 men. I was so proud of how the group defended. We did not give up a goal due to being a man down, we made a mistake that cost us that last goal. As a group, we were resilient and played through being tired on the west coast to gutting out a draw that was so close to being a win against a team that is probably hovering around the top 25. Obviously, you want the win, but I am happy with where the group's been, unbeaten in four of our last five games."

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS. Get in on the conversation on social media by following Stetson Athletics on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For video content, visit our YouTube channels: Stetson Hatters, Stetson Athletics and, for live events, Hatter Vision.