  We study a general field theory of a scalar field coupled to gravity through
a quadratic Gauss-Bonnet term $\xi(\phi) R^2_{GB}$. The coupling function has
the form $\xi(\phi)=\phi^n$, where $n$ is a positive integer. In the absence of
the Gauss-Bonnet term, the cosmological solutions for an empty universe and a
universe dominated by the energy-momentum tensor of a scalar field are always
characterized by the occurrence of a true cosmological singularity. By
employing analytical and numerical methods, we show that, in the presence of
the quadratic Gauss-Bonnet term, for the dual case of even $n$, the set of
solutions of the classical equations of motion in a curved FRW background
includes singularity-free cosmological solutions. The singular solutions are
shown to be confined in a part of the phase space of the theory allowing the
non-singular solutions to fill the rest of the space. We conjecture that the
same theory with a general coupling function that satisfies certain criteria
may lead to non-singular cosmological solutions.
