FORT MYERS, Fla. – After opening up its season with an overtime victory, the FGCU women's soccer team (1-0) now turns its attention to an upcoming match against FAU (0-2) on Thursday, Feb. 11. Kick-off at the FGCU Soccer Complex is scheduled for 7 p.m. and all of the action will be streamed on YouTube Live. Approximately 500 fans will be allowed to attend, all of whom must wear masks and remain socially distanced.
The Eagles are coming off of their fourth-consecutive, season-opening win, as they took down Utah Valley 1-0 on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore
Louise Lillback (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium), a Preseason All-ASUN pick, netted the game-winner in the 93rd minute of play, converting a ball from junior
Alyssa Abbondandolo (Cape Coral, FL/Oasis HS). The goal was the eighth of Lillback's career, while Abbondandolo was credited with her fourth assist.
In her first career start between the pipes for the Green & Blue, freshman
Mia Krusinski (Lewisville, Texas/Ursuline Academy of Dallas) was rock solid. The keeper came up with eight stops en route to posting the shutout, becoming just the third Eagle in the program's history to hold a visiting team scoreless during a debut appearance. Her eight saves also tie for the eighth-most made in FGCU's single-game history.
For her efforts, the Texas native was awarded
ASUN Defensive Player of the Week and became the fourth player in program history to be named to TopDrawerSoccer.com's Team of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. One of just two freshmen nationally to make the 11-player squad, she joins former Eagle Melissa Weck in being the only Green & Blue keepers to land a spot on the team.
Including Krusinski, nine different Eagles made their first FGCU appearances during Sunday's match. To view the starting 11 from that game, which featured six new players, click
here.
FAU will enter Thursday's contest in search of its first win of the season, having dropped a pair of games to Utah Valley (1-5) and USF (0-3). In their most recent outing, the Owls were shutout by a USF team that is now ranked No. 25 by TopDrawerSoccer.com. Freshman Natalie Mangayi took three of the team's four shots, one on goal, while redshirt-junior Gi Krstec accounted for FAU's only other on-frame attempt. Freshman keeper Amit Cohen and junior Amanda Martin were the only two Owls to play the full 90 minutes during the match against the Bulls, as 20 different players touched the field.
Like FGCU, FAU is no stranger to success within its conference, having taken home two of the past three C-USA Regular Season titles (2018-19). The Owls return this year down three of their top four scorers from 2019. Senior midfielder Sammy Vitols, who racked up seven goals and five assists during that season, is the only member of that quartet still on the roster.
While the teams have played multiple exhibition matches in past seasons, Thursday's meeting will be their first-ever regular season match.
For complete coverage of FGCU women's soccer, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_WSoccer and online at
www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU women's soccer or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting
www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
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, 2015 and 2019, has built FGCU women's soccer into a yearly contender in the ASUN Conference and a rising program in the South Region in just 13 seasons. Blankenship started the program in 2007 and has since guided the Eagles to 13 double-digit win seasons, culminating with ASUN Regular Season Championships in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. In 2011 and 2012 he also led the Eagles to back-to-back ASUN Tournament titles as they 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 168-59-25 (.716) overall record through the first 13 seasons of the program's existence, including an 82-15-15 (.801) mark in the ASUN. Blankenship's impressive career record of 408-130-36 (.743) over 26 seasons has come while leading FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--
