GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 24 FGCU women's soccer team's record-setting season came to a close Friday afternoon in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament as Duke scored a pair of second-half goals and kept the Eagles' high-powered offense off the board en route to a 2-0 win for the Blue Devils.
 
The loss snapped FGCU's 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1) as the Eagles close the season with an overall record of 14-6-2 after advancing to the NCAA Tournament's Second Round for the first time in their still-young history. No. 18 Duke improves to 12-5-4 and will face the winner of the University of Florida and William & Mary in the Third Round at UF Sunday.
 
FGCU held a 6-3 shot advantage midway through the second half, but starting near the 55th minute Duke began to lock the Eagles into their own end. The pressure led to a free kick for Duke from 35 yards out on the left side in the 65th minute. A diagonal cross by Duke's Casey Martinez found its way all the way to the back post, where the game-winning strike was tapped in from close range by substitute Malinda Allen.
 
Duke added an insurance strike in the 73rd minute as Kayla McCoy was taken down in the box and Christina Gibbons converted the penalty kick to give the Blue Devils the 2-0 lead.
 
"I'm so proud of our program and our players. What they've built here is really special," said FGCU program-founding head coach Jim Blankenship. "Obviously today didn't go as planned, but I thought we controlled a lot of the game. You could see on our players' faces and their reactions that when the whistle blew we were expecting to win. And as a coach you can't ask for anything more than that."
 
Each team finished with eight shots, but Duke prevented 2015 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Tabby Tindell (Ocala, Fla./Trinity Catholic High School) from getting any shots off – the first time since the Eagles' loss at then-No. 4 West Virginia that the junior striker did not attempt a shot. Tindell entered the game ranked in the top-5 nationally in four different offensive categories, including a 2.32 points-per-game average which was second-best in the country.
 
After 15 minutes of action mostly in the midfield, senior goal keeper Brittany Brown (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena High School) made her first stop of the game on an uncontested header by Kayla McCoy in the 18th minute. That save triggered a furious three-minute stretch in which both sides had great chances to open the scoring.
 
Just 30 seconds later, Nikki Hudson (Baltimore, Md./Roland Park County/Rutgers) tried to place a right-footed shot inside the left post. The effort from 10-yards out was ticketed for the back of the net, but a leaping EJ Proctor punched it out for a corner. That corner resulted in a Meaghan Mulligan (Freehold, N.J./Colts Neck HS/Tennessee) header that sailed high.
 
Less than a minute later, Martinez got free on the right side of the box and had Brown 1 v. 1. The senior came off her line, and with an out-stretched leg made a kick save on Martinez's low shot to preserve the scoreless contest.
 
Following that furious stretch, play again returned primarily to the central area of the field before Duke locked FGCU into its own end near the 30-minute mark. The Eagles broke through in the final minutes of the half with a great chance created by a 1-2 ball from Tindell and Ali Rogers (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS), but Rogers' best effort went wide.
 
The two sides hit the halftime break scoreless, although FGCU had a 5-3 shot advantage. The Eagles were held to three second-half shots with just one on target as Duke applied a continuous stream of pressure to the FGCU backline. The Eagles created just one shot after the Blue Devils took the lead, an 85th minute strike from Emma Blackwell (Jenks, Okla./Jenks High School) that went high.
 
Brown finished with three saves in her final collegiate game, and none of them were easy as she kept FGCU within striking distance all day. Rogers and Hudson each recorded two shots for the Green and Blue, with Hudson and Shea Rhoney (Lithia, Fla./Newsome High School) having the only two shots on frame for the Eagles.
 
For FGCU, the senior class of Rhoney, Blackwell, Kaitlin Parker (Palm Harbor, Fla./Clearwater Central Catholic HS), Ally Kasun (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield HS) and Brown will graduate having led the program to three NCAA Tournament appearances in four seasons. The group guided the Eagles to their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, four-consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season championships and three league tournament titles. Over their four years, the group posted an overall record of 57-17-9 and an A-Sun mark of 27-1-4.
 
Game Notes: With the second-round appearance, the Eagles became the third FGCU team to advance in the NCAA Tournament, joining 2013 men's basketball and 2015 women's basketball…2015 marks the team's fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, having previously lost at Florida (2011, 2012) and falling to Auburn at home (2014)…in their 84th career game, seniors Blackwell, Kasun, Rhoney, Brown and Parker hold a place in the A-Sun record books tied at sixth in games played…Tindell remains atop the FGCU all-time records with 52 career goals and 126 career points…Tindell stands at sixth in the A-Sun record books in goals and tied for eighth in points…Tindell also ranks second nationally with 2.44 points per game this season and fourth with 0.94 goals per game…the Eagles will return six of the team's starters for the 2016 season.
 
COACH JIM BLANKENSHIP
A veteran of over two decades in collegiate coaching, head coach Jim Blankenship, who was named the A-Sun Coach of the Year in 2012, 2013, 2014 and now 2015, has built FGCU women's soccer into a yearly contender in the Atlantic Sun Conference and a rising program in the South Region in just nine seasons. Blankenship, who was ranked the no. 6 collegiate coach nationally by AllWhiteKit.com to begin the year, started the program in 2007 and has since guided the Eagles to nine double-digit win seasons, culminating with Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championships in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and now 2015. In 2011 and 2012 he also led the Eagles to back-to-back A-Sun tournament championships and became the first team in the history of the university to make it to the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles went on to win the 2014 A-Sun tournament and host the first NCAA Championship event on campus. The Eagles earned their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance with the 2015 A-Sun Tournament Championship and won their first NCAA game at USF in 2015. Blankenship has guided FGCU to a 115-42-19 (70.7 W%) overall record through the first nine seasons of the program's existence, including a 60-9-10 (76.2 W%) mark in the A-Sun. Blankenship's impressive career record of 355-113-30 (74.3 W%) over 25 seasons has come while leading FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.
 
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.
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness