FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's soccer team (1-1-2, 1-0-1 ASUN) collected its first win of the season, ultimately moving to the top of the South Division table, taking down Jacksonville (1-3-1, 1-1-0 ASUN), 3-1, Saturday night.

"I feel like this team is constantly growing," said head coach Jesse Cormier. "We defended poorly in our opener and fixed many of those issues. We then lacked discipline and struggled to set plays in our second game. We improved this but lacked a cohesive, collective attack against North Florida. We got most of it all right tonight but JU certainly did not make it easy for us. It takes all phases to win a game like this."

There wasn't much to show for in the FGCU attack in the first half as the Eagles recorded three shots with one coming on goal. In a matter of seconds, that all changed in the second half. About 30 seconds in, Darius Kerr-Cooper (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's HS) found his fellow Canadian teammate O'Vonte Mullings Toronto, Ontario/Northview Heights HS) in stride sprinting down the middle of the field. From there, Mullings gathered the ball from about 15 yards out and slotted it right under the keeper.

A few minutes later, this time it was the combination of Markus Maurer (Friedrichshafen, Germany/Monroe College) and Kerr-Cooper finding Mullings for his second score of the game – finished from outside the right box.

Over the next 15 minutes, keeper Gustavo Vasconcelos (Recife, Brazil/Colegio GGE) kept the Dolphins off the board with four key saves until they knotted the affair in the 74th minute. Looking for the insurance, the Green and Blue got just that with Kerr-Cooper's first collegiate goal in the 87th minute. Gathering a pass from Marcos Da Paz (Recife, Brazil/Fayetteville Academy/Columbia International) Kerr-Cooper fired off a shot from about 12 yards out from the far right corner of the box en route to the 3-1 win.

Vasconcelos gets his first win of the season in between the pipes, moving to 1-1-2 as he finished with five saves. Of the eight shots recorded on offense, Mullings led the Eagles with five (three on target).

Up Next
FGCU will host North Florida (2-1-2, 0-0-2 ASUN) Saturday, Mar. 13 at 1 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the-minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU men's soccer program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_MSoccer, Instagram @FGCU_MSoccer, Facebook /FGCUMSoccer, and YouTube /FGCUAthletics.

HEAD COACH JESSE CORMIER
Jesse Cormier is in his fourth year as head coach of the FGCU men's soccer program after being hired in January of 2017 to become just the 2nd head coach in program history. Cormier has guided FGCU to a 27-20-9 (.482) record overall, including a 14-3-3 mark (.700) in ASUN play. The Eagles have reached the ASUN Tournament semifinals for nine-straight seasons (every year of eligibility), as Cormier has coached 23 all-conference selections since his arrival (program-record 10 in 2017). Cormier was the head coach at his alma mater the University of Vermont for the previous 13 seasons. He won 14 games with the Catamounts in 2016 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round. During his time with Vermont, Cormier guided the program to the America East Tournament in 12 of 13 seasons, making five title game appearances, winning two tournament crowns, claiming a regular-season championship and advancing to three NCAA tournaments, including a pair of Second Round appearances. Cormier holds an overall 141-108-55 (.462) record as a head coach in his sixteen-plus seasons at the helm.

#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 84 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.