FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU women's soccer team (2-0-2, 0-0-0 ASUN) is preparing to kick off its ASUN Conference slate this upcoming weekend, as the program is set to host UNF (3-0-0, 0-0-0 ASUN) on Saturday, Feb. 27 at the FGCU Soccer Complex. The pink out game, which is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start, will be open to approximately 500 fans, all of whom must remain masked and adhere to social distancing guidelines. This weekend's action will be not be streamed, but live stats will be available for fans to follow along.
FGCU recently closed out its non-conference schedule with a 3-0 defeat of FIU (Feb. 21). Freshman
Malaya Melancon (Naples, Fla./First Baptist Academy) found the back of the net for her first career goal within the opening three minutes. Sophomore
Louise Lillback (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) and junior
Alyssa Abbondandolo (Cape Coral, Fla./Oasis HS) tallied the team's second and third goals, which came in the 65th and 73rd minutes of action. Three different Eagles recorded assists, as junior
Kara Kyramarios (Titusville, Fla./Titusville HS), freshman
Ashley Labbe (Lake Worth, Fla./Suncoast HS) and freshman
Alyssa Wilson (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers HS) were each credited.
Freshman keeper
Mia Krusinski (Lewisville, Texas/Ursuline Academy of Dallas), who has started in all four of the team's matches so far, picked up the third shutout of her career during the outing against the Panthers. FIU took five shots throughout 90 minutes, but the rookie was only forced to make one save.
Saturday's game will be the 15th in the history between the two teams, which favors FGCU 12-1-1. Last year's matchup was one of the most exciting in the shared history, as the Eagles earned a 1-0, double-overtime victory at the FGCU Soccer Complex (Oct. 17, 2019). Former two-time All-American Evdokia Popadinova netted the game-winner after nearly 104 minutes of scoreless action. Her shot was assisted by Kyramarios and former Eagle Marjorie Boilesen. Both Popadinova and Boilesen have gone on to play professionally since wrapping up their Green & Blue careers. The Eagles have not lost to UNF since the 2012 season when they suffered a 2-0 shutout and have historically outscored the Ospreys 31-4.
Like FGCU, UNF also enters this weekend's action with an unbeaten record through the start of the season. The Ospreys kicked off their slate with a 4-0 victory over Jacksonville and have since picked up wins over FIU (3-1) and The Citadel (2-1).
Senior Thais Reiss, the Preseason Player of the Year and a two-time First Team All-ASUN honoree, leads both the Ospreys and the league with four goals. The midfielder has also added two assists, boosting her to a conference-best eight points.
Reiss is one of four Ospreys that have scored in the team's games thus far, joined by Ariana Munoz, Mikayla Bond and Emma Voigt. Munoz has found the back of the net twice, while Bond and Voigt have added one apiece.
The Eagles will head into Saturday's match looking to extend their all-time advantage over UNF, as well as their unbeaten record in ASUN openers. FGCU is historically 10-0-3 in its first games of ASUN Conference play.
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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 168-59-27 (.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 409-130-38 (.743) over 26 seasons has come while leading FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.
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#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 83 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--
