LAST TIME OUT- For the second straight Sunday, the Eagles played to a draw in the midwest.  Going up against the Missouri Valley Conference favorites Loyola, the Eagles struggled to get going early on and it wasn't until the Ramblers put one in the net in the 61st minute, that FGCU put their first shot on goal, and in the net in the 65th minute, a tally by Holly Fritz (Cape Coral, FL/Mariner HS/Florida State) to tie the game at 1.  The two would play 45 more minutes with nothing getting through and they would both settle for a 1-1 tie after a pair of overtimes.  Melissa Weck (Yorba Linda, CA/Esperanza HS) came up huge in net, making a season high eight saves to earn the Eagles the result.  

On Thursday, FGCU made the short trip to Miami to take on FIU and made short work of the Panthers.  It took just over three minutes for the Eagles to get on the board and by the 15 minute mark, it was already 3-0 FGCU.  The Green and Blue added another before the half and would go on to win 5-1 on goals from five different players in the contest.  Freshmen Kara Kyramarios (Titusville, FL/Titusville HS) and Alyssa Abbondandolo (Cape Coral, FL/Oasis HS) each scored their first career goals for the Eagles in the win.  

POLLS- The Eagles lost some footing in the polls this week, falling in both the NCAA/United Soccer Coaches rankings, as well as the Hero Sports rankings.  FGCU received two votes in the NCAA poll, effectively checking in at #41 after being ranked #27 last week.  They also fell two spots in the South Region poll to #5.  In the Hero Sports poll, they moved down 9 spots to #25 as of this release (Thursday).  In the first RPI released by the NCAA on Tuesday, the Eagles find themselves at #44, the next highest ASUN team in the RPI is Kennesaw State at #87.  

UNITED SOCCER COACHES/NCAA TOP 25 POLL
UNITED SOCCER COACHES SOUTH REGION POLL
HERO SPORTS POLL
NCAA RPI 

CLASSY- Holly Fritz earned quite an honor on Wednesday as she was named one of 30 semifinalists nationwide to become a candidate for the distinguished Senior CLASS Award. The Senior CLASS Award, an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, focuses on the total student-athlete, encouraging students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.  Candidates are compared using four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition.  Fritz joins former Eagle Tabby Tindell as the only other Senior CLASS Award nominee in program history.  Tindell received the honors in 2016 and was later named a finalist for the award.  Overall, Fritz is the eighth student-athlete from FGCU to be a nominee for the Senior Class Award, joining Tindell ('16), Baseball players Garrett Anderson ('17) and Tyler Selesky ('16), Women's Basketball players Whitney Knight ('16) and Sarah Hansen ('13), and Men's Soccer players Deion Jones ('12) and Adam Glick ('11). 

ASUN LEADERS- Wrapping up the best non-conference schedule of any team in the ASUN, there are Eagles scattered all over the conference's leaderboards heading into play this weekend.  
 

Goals
1. Evdokia Popadinova (FGCU)	6
2. Holly Fritz (FGCU)	5
Kylie Huey (North Alabama)	5
Shelby Wall (North Alabama)	5
5. Five Players Tied With...	4

 

Points
1. Evdokia Popadinova (FGCU)	17
Shelby Wall (North Alabama)	17
3. Kylie Huey (North Alabama)	15
4. Holly Fritz (FGCU)	12
Thais Reiss (North Florida)	12
Olivia Doak (Lipscomb)	12

 

Assists
1. Shelby Wall (North Alabama)	7
2. Evdokia Popadinova (FGCU)	5
Kylie Huey (North Alabama)	5
4. Marjoie Boilesen (FGCU)	4
Four Other Players Tied With...	4

 

Game Winning Goals
1. Evdokia Popadinova (FGCU)	2
Holly Fritz (FGCU)	2
Marjorie Boilesen (FGCU)	2
Seven Others Tied With...	2

 

Goals Against Average
1. Melissa Weck (FGCU)	0.71
2. Amelia Sapirman (NJIT)	0.76
3. Kate Mason (Lipscomb)	1.04
4. Rhiannon Conelley (North Florida)	1.05
5. Tiffany Sornpao (Kennesaw St.)	1.09

 

Save Percentage
1. Melissa Weck FGCU)	.842
2. Tiffany Sornpao (Kennesaw St.)	.831
3. Amelia Sapirman (NJIT)	.825
4. Emily Plotz (Stetson)	.812
5. Kate Mason (Lipscomb)	.788

 

Shutouts
1. Amelia Sapirman (NJIT)	5
Tiffany Sornpao (Kennesaw St.)	5
3. Melissa Weck (FGCU)	4
4. Rhiannon Conelly (North Florida)	3
Shelby Thornton (North Alabama)	3

CHART CLIMBERS- A number of Eagles have begun to take aim on the programs all-time record book, including Popadinova who currently leads in both points per game and assists per game early in her FGCU career.  
 

POINTS PER GAME	ASSISTS PER GAME
1. Evdokia Popadinova- 2.12 (18)	1. Evdokia Popadinova- 0.62 (18)
2. Tabby Tindell- 2.03 (13-16)	2. Marjorie Boilesen- 0.48 (17-18)
3. Marjorie Boilesen- 1.52 (17-18)	3. Holly Fritz- 0.44 (17-18)
4. Holly Fritz- 1.19 (17-18)	4. Tabby Tindell- 0.38 (13-16)
5. Amber McCall- 1.06 (07-09)	5. Ashley Ciesielczyk- 0.37 (08-12)
GOALS PER GAME	SHOTS PER GAME
1. Tabby Tindell- 0.82 (13-16)	1. Tabby Tindell- 3.76 (13-16)
2. Evdokia Popadinova- 0.75 (18)	2. Paulina Speckmaier- 3.33 (13-16)
3. Marjorie Boilesen- 0.52 (17-18)	3. Evdokia Popadinova- 2.62 (18)
4. Amber McCall- 0.44 (07-09)	4. Holly Fritz- 2.44 (17-18)
5. Varin Ness- 0.42 (17)	5. Amber McCall- 2.37 (07-09)
SAVES	SAVE PERCENTAGE
1. Brittany Brown- 274 (12-15)	1. Stephanie Powers- .834 (08-11)
2. Stephanie Powers- 261 (08-11)	2. Brittany Brown- .830 (12-15)
3. Melissa Weck- 165 (16-18)	3. Melissa Weck- .817 (16-18)
4. Kirsi Kennan- 55 (07-10)	4. Kirsi Keenan- .775 (07-10)
5. Emily Barrett- 14 (07-09)	5. Emily Barrett- .737 (07-09)
GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE	WINS
1. Brittany Brown- 0.67 (12-15)	1. Brittany Brown- 57 (12-15)
2. Stephanie Powers- 0.73 (08-11)	2. Stephanie Powers- 42 (08-11)
3. Melissa Weck- 0.78 (16-18)	3. Melissa Weck- 34 (16-18)
4. Emily Barrett- 0.84 (07-09)	4. Kirsi Keenan- 10 (07-10)
5. Kirsi Keenan- 0.90 (07-10)	5. Emily Barrett- 5 (07-09)
SHUTOUTS
1. Brittany Brown- 37.1 (12-15)
2. Stephanie Powers- 31 (08-11)
3. Melissa Weck- 23.2 (16-18)
4. Kirsi Keenan- 8 (07-10)
5. Emily Barrett- 3 (07-09)

 
ASUN STANDINGS

School	Pts	ASUN	Overall	Last Week
1. FGCU	0	0-0-0	6-0-2	W- FIU (5-1), T- Loyola (1-1)
2. Kennesaw St.	0	0-0-0	7-2-1	L- Samford (2-0), T- Mercer (1-1)
3. NJIT	0	0-0-0	6-2-1	W- Temple (1-0), W- UMBC (3-2 OT)
4. North Florida	0	0-0-0	5-3-0	W- Webber Int. (9-0)
5. North Alabama	0	0-0-0	6-4-0	L- Chattanooga (3-0), W- Troy (2-0)
6. Lipscomb	0	0-0-0	5-3-2	L- Cincinnati (2-1 OT), W- Kentucky (2-1)
7. Stetson	0	0-0-0	3-4-2	L- UCF (5-1)
8. Liberty	0	0-0-0	1-7-0	L- James Madison (1-0)
9. Jacksonville	0	0-0-0	0-7-1

THIS WEEK'S ASUN SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 21
Lipscomb @ NJIT- 3 PM
Liberty @ Kennesaw St.- 6:30 PM
Stetson @ North Florida- 7 PM
FGCU @ Jacksonville- 7 PM

Sunday, Sept. 23
NJIT @ Liberty- 1 PM
FGCU @ North Florida- 1 PM
Stetson @ Jacksonville- 1 PM
Kennesaw St. @ North Alabama- 5 PM
 
THE JACKSONVILLE DOLPHINS- It hasn't been an ideal start to the season for the Dolphins who enter ASUN play at 0-7-1.  Their lone result of the season came in draw with Miami two weeks ago.  

It has been a struggle on the offensive end for JU who have failed to score more than once in any of their eight outs this season. However, after their first three contests of the year in which they were outscored 8-0, the Dolphins been right in their past five games, losing four one goal games along with the tie against the Hurricanes.  JU has gotten five goals on the season from five different players, while their three assists have also come from three different players.  

Defensively, the Dolphins have had some issues as well as goalies Brittany Hundley and Kristian Shores have been forced to make a combined 54 saves on the year which is second most of any team in the ASUN.  

FGCU is 6-2-6 all-time against JU, but it has been tough sledding in Jacksonville for the Eagles where they are just 1-1-3 in five meetings.  

THE NORTH FLORIDA OSPREYS- UNF enters ASUN play as one of the hottest teams in the conference as they have won five straight contests after a shaky 0-3 start.  Not only have the Ospreys won, they have done it in convincing fashion, shutting out four of their five opponents during the stretch while outscoring them 17-1.  

The Ospreys have had 10 different goal scorers this season, but the bulk of their damage has come from Thais Reiss and Kendra Hoffman up front.  The two each boast four goals in the early going and have recorded 27 of UNF's 65 shots on goal this year.  Reiss has scored in three straight entering conference action this weekend while Hoffman has three goals in the past two Osprey games.  In net, it has been primarily Rhiannon Conelley for UNF.  The sophomore has played well of late, allowing just a single goal in her last 430 minutes of action.  

The Eagles have dominated the series between the two,holding a 10-1-1 all-time advantage.  FGCU has won five straight in the series and has not conceded a goal to the Ospreys since 2012.  

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.
 
COACH JIM BLANKENSHIP
A veteran of over two decades in collegiate coaching, head coach Jim Blankenship, who was named the ASUN Coach of the Year in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, has built FGCU women's soccer into a yearly contender in the ASUN Conference and a rising program in the South Region in just 11 seasons. Blankenship started the program in 2007 and has since guided the Eagles to 11 double-digit win seasons, culminating with ASUN Regular Season Championships in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. In 2011 and 2012 he also led the Eagles to back-to-back ASUN Tournament titles 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 ASUN Tournament and hosted the first NCAA Championship event on campus. The Eagles earned their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance with the 2015 ASUN Tournament Championship and won their first NCAA game at USF in 2015 while finishing 24th in the nation. In 2016, the Eagles made it three-consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament with a third-straight ASUN Tournament title. A year later, the Eagles became the first ASUN women's soccer program to make four-straight NCAA Tournaments with another tournament title in 2017. Blankenship has guided FGCU to a 149-51-23 (72.0 W%) overall record through the first 11 seasons of the program's existence, including a 71-11-14 (81.1 W%) mark in the ASUN. Blankenship's impressive career record of 389-122-34 (74.5 W%) over 25 seasons has come while leading FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.
 
#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.