FORT MYERS, Fla. – In its first match at The Nest in over two weeks, the FGCU women's soccer team (4-2-2, 2-2-0 ASUN) defeated Stetson (1-4-1, 0-3-1 ASUN) by a score of 3-0. The victory, which was notched on Saturday afternoon at the FGCU Soccer Complex, was boosted by sophomore Louise Lillback's (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) two-goal performance.

Lillback was one of five Eagles that finished their day with points on the stat sheet and was joined in the scoring by junior Alyssa Abbondandolo (Cape Coral, Fla./Oasis HS), who found the back of the net with her fourth goal of the season. Graduate student Meagan Gruber (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson/Jacksonville), senior Zoey Spitzer (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS) and senior Kavina Ganeshan (Pickering, Ontario/Pickering HS) were each credited with an assist.

"I'm really pleased with today's result," head coach Jim Blankenship said. "We bounced back after a slow first half and being resilient at home is really important. I thought the team played well, especially in the second half. We imposed our will on them and got some great goals. This is the result that we were hoping for. I'm really happy with the players and their attitude today."

The first half saw a lot of back-and-forth action between the two teams and each keeper was able to maintain a clean slate, regardless of being tested early. Though the Eagles fired off the first shot of the day just six minutes into the game when sophomore Leah Scarpelli (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial/Penn State) got her foot on a ball, Stetson's Ashleigh Wise was there to make the stop. Less than 10 minutes later, the Hatters had their own look at the net, but freshman Mia Krusinski (Lewisville, Texas/Ursuline Academy of Dallas) came up with the save.

Despite FGCU earning a 9-4 first-half advantage in shots, the team had nothing to show for it as the game was scoreless at the break. The Hatters' early attempt against Krusinski was the only shot that the rookie had to face in the opening period, while Wise was directly tested twice.

The Eagles took control of the game almost immediately following the start of the second half. Within two minutes of kickoff, Lillback broke open the scoring when she found the back of the net after receiving a ball from Spitzer. The game-winner handed FGCU a 1-0 advantage and from there, the team never looked back.

Over the next 15 minutes, the Eagles continued to apply pressure to Stetson's backline. A free kick taken by Ganeshan gave the team a direct opportunity to score, which they were able to capitalize on when Abbondandolo got her head on the ball for the team's second goal of the day.

Lillback continued to fire off shots down the stretch, notching four on-frame attempts before scoring once again in the 82nd minute. The goal, her seventh of the year, was assisted by Gruber and boosted the Eagles to their final 3-0 margin.

Krusinski, who was only forced to make one stop through 90 minutes of play, picked up the fifth shutout of her rookie career. She is just the second keeper in program history to earn shut outs in five of the first eight games that she's played, joining former Eagle Brittany Brown (2012-15). Brown holds the program's freshman shutout record, having racked up 12 in her debut.

The Eagles will now turn their attention towards an upcoming match against Jacksonville on Sunday, March 28. Kick-off against the Dolphins is slated for 1 p.m. and the team will honor its seniors beforehand.

ASUN Roundup
South Division Standings

School	ASUN	Points	Overall
UNF	3-0-0	9	6-0-0
FGCU	2-2-0	6	4-2-2
Jacksonville	1-1-1	4	1-6-1
Stetson	0-3-1	1	1-4-1

North Division Standings

School	ASUN	Points	Overall
Lipscomb	4-0-1	13	5-2-1
Liberty	2-2-1	7	3-3-3
Bellarmine	2-2-0	6	2-4-0
Kennesaw State	2-2-0	6	3-6-0
North Alabama	0-4-0	0	1-6-0

Results
Friday, March 19
Lipscomb 5, Liberty 1

Saturday, March 20
FGCU 3, Stetson 0

Upcoming Games
Saturday, March 20
UNF at Jacksonville – 6 p.m

Sunday, March 21
Bellarmine at Kennesaw State – Noon
Liberty at North Alabama – 1 p.m.
Lipscomb at Vanderbilt – 7 p.m.

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 171-61-27 (.716) overall record through the first 13 seasons of the program's existence, including an 84-17-15 (.801) mark in the ASUN. Blankenship's impressive career record of 411-132-38 (.743) over 26 seasons has come while leading FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.

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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 85 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 40 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.
 
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