FORT MYERS, Fla. – Coming off its first loss of the 2014 season the FGCU women's soccer team (2-1) will play its third consecutive game on the road as it heads to FIU (2-2) for a midweek tilt set to kick off Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. The Eagles will be in search of a fourth-straight victory over the Panthers.

LAST TIME OUT
FGCU dropped its first result of the 2014 season at USF (1-2-1) on Sunday evening, falling 1-0 in a tightly contested match. USF paced the play for the majority of the game and spoiled several late chances by the Eagles while scoring the difference making goal early in the second half.

In the first ever meeting in the regular season between these two programs, USF outshot the Green and Blue 15-4 and forced FGCU goalkeeper Brittany Brown to make seven saves, the third-most in a single game in her career, including several in spectacular fashion. 

FIU
The Eagles hold a 4-2-1 advantage in the all-time series including a 1-0 victory at the FGCU Soccer Complex last season. FIU finished 2013 with a 7-12 record and a 5-5 mark in Conference USA. They are off to a 2-2 start this season with a 0-2 loss to Arizona, a 3-0 defeat of North Florida, a 0-1 loss at No. 15 Santa Clara and a 1-0 defeat of Pacific. Ashleigh Shim leads the way with two goals so far this season for FIU while Chelsea Leiva and Johanna Volz have each added a goal apiece.

ASHLEY PARKS
For the first time in her career, FGCU women's soccer defender Ashley Parks has been selected as the Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Week thanks in large part to her assist that led to the game-winning goal when FGCU defeated Miami on the road last Friday night.

Parks became a full-time starter on the FGCU back line this season and has been on the field for all 270 minutes the Eagles have played. In the 58th minute opposite Miami, the sophomore won a loose ball and fed teammate Tabby Tindell near midfield. From there Tindell broke free, carrying the ball between two defenders down the length of the Miami half before making a move around the goalkeeper to score the eventual game-winner. It was the first assist for Parks this season and the fourth of her career.

TABBY TINDELL
In recognition of her efforts in the season opening, two-goal performance against Arizona, Tindell was named the A-Sun Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career as well as being chosen as an honorable mention to the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week which recognizes the top performances of players nationwide.

Individuals from national powers, Ohio State, Stanford, South Carolina, Florida State, UCLA, Notre Dame, Penn State, California, Arkansas, Arizona State, DePaul, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan State are all represented on the list alongside Tindell. Check out the full Team of the Week here.

The 18 goals she has scored in her career already rank fourth all-time in the FGCU record book and are just six shy of the program career record of 24 goals set by 2009 graduate Amber McCall. Tindell's 40 points (18 goals, 4 assists) are tied for fifth all-time with 2012 graduate Ashley Ciesielczyk (6 goals, 28 assists).
 
Tindell put together one of, if not the greatest individual seasons in program history in just her first year suiting up for the Green and Blue. The Ocala, Fla. native established single-season program records in points (34), goals (15), goals per game (0.75), shots (71), shots per game (3.55), shots on goal (44) and shots on goal per game (2.20).

BROOKE SILL
Sill, who is also a first-year member of the FGCU women's cross country team, put her cleats aside to make her cross country debut on Saturday (Aug. 30) at the Stetson Hatter Invite in DeBary, Fla. The senior outpaced 32 other competitors to cross the finish line first with a time of 19:39.56.

NSCAA
The Eagles have achieved the No. 9 ranking in the NSCAA Southeast region for the week of Sept. 2. They fall in behind Florida State (4-0), Virginia (3-0), Virginia Tech (4-0), North Carolina (1-2-1), Clemson (4-0), Duke (2-2), Notre Dame (2-2), Boston College (3-1) and rank ahead of Wake Forest (1-2).

TOUGH SCHEDULE
The Eagles finished 2013 with the No. 67 RPI in the nation and the 2014 schedule features seven teams that finished ranked inside the top 83, three of which were ranked 15th or better. Those seven team include Arizona (83), Miami (73), La Salle (63), USF (53), Texas A&M (15), South Carolina (14) and UCF (13). Texas A&M and South Carolina currently ranked No. 6 and No. 9 respectively in the NSCAA Coach's Poll. 

PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS
FGCU has been selected by the coaches of the Atlantic Sun to earn a fifth-consecutive regular season championship when the Preseason All-Conference awards were announced by the league office. The coaches also went on to choose Tindell as the Co-Preseason Player of the Year while Emma Blackwell earned Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors and Brown was picked to repeat as Goalkeeper of the Year.

The Eagles received 59 points and four first place votes to lead the preseason poll, just two points shy of 2013 A-Sun Tournament Champion Jacksonville (57) who picked up two first place votes. Kennesaw State with 48 points and one first place vote checked in at third followed by Stetson (40) and Lipscomb (33) who received the final first place vote. North Florida (24), Northern Kentucky (18) and USC Upstate (9) round out the rest of the rankings.

WACKER CLOSING IN
Shannen Wacker closed her junior campaign just three goals shy of the program record of 24. She is well ahead of the pace to break that record as she has averaged seven goals per season over the course of her career.

BLANKENSHIP AMONG THE BEST
Last month, AllWhiteKit.com, a blog that recognizes and promotes women's soccer around the world, released its NCAA – CoachRank Adjusted Rankings and listed FGCU head coach Jim Blankenship as the No. 10 coach in the nation. He is the highest ranked of any his peers in the Atlantic Sun and one of three coaches from the state of Florida to appear in the top 10 (2 - Florida State, 9 - Florida).

Only coaches that have been at their current institution three seasons or longer qualify for the list. CoachRank is a data-driven, objective system of measuring coach performance over a long-term period of the time. Blankenship's sustained success at FGCU played a major role in the ranking he received. For full AllWhiteKit.com rankings click here.

Blankenship has guided FGCU to an 84-32-17 overall record over the first seven seasons of the program's existence, including a 47-9-9 mark in the A-Sun. Since joining the A-Sun in 2007, the Eagles lead the league in conference wins (47) and fewest conference losses (9). In their last four seasons in the A-Sun, FGCU sports a 29-2-6 record. FGCU's 8-0-2 A-Sun record in 2010 and 7-0-2 record in 2013 were the 11th and 12th unblemished seasons in conference history and two of seven since the league left divisional play in 1999.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Murray State visits the FGCU Soccer Complex on Sunday (Sept. 7) to split five road games for FGCU. These two programs have met once before in 2007 and the Racers came away with a 3-2 victory. Murray State closed 2013 with a 6-10-1 mark and a 3-7 record in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers are 1-2 so far this season with a 2-3 loss to Arkansas State, a 2-1 defeat of Georgia State and a 1-5 loss at Dayton. Murray State will visit FIU on Sept. 5 before visiting FGCU.

FOLLOW ALONG
For constant, news, photos, videos and updates you can follow the women's soccer team on Twitter @FGCU_WSoccer, on Instagram @FGCU_WSoccer or on Facebook: Facebook.com/FGCUWSoccer. You can also find FGCU athletics on YouTube by visiting YouTube.com/FGCUEagles.

TICKETS
Single-game tickets for FGCU Women's Soccer are available at a cost of $6 for adults and $3 for groups of ten (10) or more. Season tickets are also available. For more ticket information and additional deals, visit FGCUathletics.com/tickets, call or visit the ticket office at 239-590-7145.