Demorest, GA -- The Piedmont College men's and women's soccer teams will try this weekend to pull off something which has never been done in the history of the programs' involvement in the Great South Athletic Conference - win tournament championships in the same year.  The two squads have combined for six GSAC championships but have never claimed titles in the same season since becoming a charter member of the Great South in 2000.

"It's something we've been building towards all season as our group has really started to come together over these last few weeks," said Head Men's Soccer Coach Jimmy Stephens. "We just have to remember to take it one game at a time, we want our focus to be completely on Friday's semifinal match before we can start thinking about winning a title."

Friday's semifinal opponent for the Lions may give the squad cause to keep their focus on what's in front of them as Piedmont will play Huntingdon College in the nightcap semi which kicks off at 6:45 pm.  The Hawks rallied from a 2-0 deficit at Walker Athletic Complex on October 1st, 2011 to force a 2-2 draw between the two squads after two scoreless overtime periods. 

When the Lions visited HC three weeks later, Piedmont found itself trailing after 15 minutes of play before using a game-tying goal from senior Nick Weatherby and another second half gamewinner from Sidney Smith to climb out of the early hole for a 2-1 win.  With close matchups throughout the season, the veteran Weatherby knows how important it is to not overlook the Hawks in the coming semifinal round.

"We had to battle this team throughout the regular season, so I don't think we'll be looking past them on Friday afternoon," said Weatherby of his team's mindset going into the 2011 championship tournament. "We've come close the past three years I've been here to winning a championship, but the first step will be our semifinal game so that's all that's really on our minds."

Piedmont will be led offensively going into postseason play by its leading goal scorer on the season in Sidney Smith whose 12 goals and 25 total points leads the league and has the junior from Dallas, GA in contention for this season's Player of the Year honor.  The Lions bring a 7-8-2 overall record into this weekend's contest and are 1-0-1 against the Hawks in two regular seasons contest in 2011.

On the women's side, the Lady Lions are hoping to cap off one of their most successful seasons in program history with a GSAC tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament.  Despite his team's attributes on the year, Head Coach Stephen Andrew knows that this time of year is anyone's game.

"We've had a great season so far, but now everyone's slate sort of gets wiped clean come tournament time," said Andrew of the upcoming championship weekend. "We face a great team this Friday in Salem College who will be well prepared and ready to play against us, and we hope that we continue to play well and focus on the things we need to do to win."

As someone who won three GSAC championships during his time as a player with the Lions, Andrew's experience has helped mold some of the most successful teams over the last few years having gone 55-19-1 since his arrival at PC in 2008.  As the most veteran player on the 2011 team, senior Justine Clay, who has been a part of all 55 of Andrew's wins, values her head coach's guidance as one of the few players to have seen the improvement over the last four years.

"Having a head coach like we do who had so much experience as a player right here at the same school helps us a lot because he's been there before," said Clay. "His leadership has helped us excel and accept nothing less than the best from each other. That's the main reason why we've been successful, he never lets us get comfortable with anything less than the top performance we can give."

Piedmont will need that top performance when the team meets head on with one of its rivals in conference play as the third seeded Spirits of Salem College await PC in the 1:45 pm semifinal on Friday afternoon.  The Lady Lions used a pair of second half scores to knock off Salem earlier this season 2-0 in the clubs' only meeting of the 2011 season with Clay notching the winning goal seconds after coming back on from the halftime break.

Both matches for the Piedmont men's and women's soccer teams will take place on Friday, November 4th at Panther Field on the campus of LaGrange College in LaGrange, GA.  The second seeded Lady Lions are up first taking on third seeded Salem College in a 1:45 pm afternoon match while the second seeded Lions wrap up Seminfinal Friday with their 6:45 pm evening showdown against the third seeded Hawks of Huntingdon College.