FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's soccer team (5-2-4, 1-1-3 ASUN) delivered a goal in both the first and second halves on Tuesday evening to defeat AAC member, Florida Atlantic, 2-1. With the victory, the Eagles are back in the win column and improve to 5-2-4 overall while FAU falls to 3-7-3 overall.

Senior Aiden Jokomba (Anchovy, St. James, Jamaica / Cornwall College) immediately got to work and scored the first goal for the Eagles in the 4^th minute and his first of the season.Graduate student Aedon Kyra (Sydney, Australia/UNLV) delivered the game-winning goal from a free kick by freshman Jacob Tatebe (Warren, Ohio/Warren Harding HS).

"Fantastic result tonight. We made eight changes to the lineup with many younger less experienced players involved and they fought hard and played intelligently," said head coach Jesse Cormier. " So proud of the collective vision shared by the team tonight and exceptional effort and play from Aedon Kyra, Markus Maurer, Abdel Kuku and the new defense with Cooper in goal almost achieved a clean sheet.  We're looking to build momentum as we head into the final phase of our season together."

Overall, FAU outshot FGCU, 12-8 while having eight shots on goal to the Eagles four. Florida Gulf Coast had a 9-4 advantage on corner kicks. This was the Eagles first win over the Owls since October, 2017.

Senior goalkeeper Cooper Blay (Gainesville,Fla/Marshall) earned the victory in his first game of the season while making six saves.

In the first half, Jokomba wasted no time as he was given an opportunity in the box and shot the ball  in the right side of net giving FAU's goal keeper Neil Strauber no time to save it at just the fourth minute.

From there the Owls attempted getting on the scoreboard firing four shots that included two from Sebastian Zettl but all were corralled by Blay to keep the Eagles 1-0 lead going into the half.

FAU started the second half by getting a shot on goal in the 53^rd minute before firing three more shots compared to the Eagles two.

A crucial moment arose for the Owls to even the game as Tom Abrahamsson was given a penalty kick in the 78^th minute. He shot the ball to the right and Blay showed his goal keeping skills by diving to his left and denying the shot.

FAU kept pressing on and was rewarded in the 84^rd minute as Yuval Oren took a feed from both Spencer Mallion and Fritz Kleiner and buried the ball in the back of the net to tie the game 1-1.

FGCU immediately responded and showed they missed playing in front of their home crowd as Tatebe fired a perfect free kick that Kyra precisely directed the ball with his head to score the unbelievable game-winner in the 88^th minute. This was Kyra's third goal of the season and moves him to second in most goals behind senior forward Davi Alves (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/West Florida).

The Eagles will return to action on Friday at 7 p.m. remaining home to take on league foe Queens (3-9-0, 1-4-0 ASUN).

Hurricane Ian Recovery
For information on how you can help out in the Hurricane Ian recovery efforts, please visit fgcu.edu/HurricaneIan.
  
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HEAD COACH JESSE CORMIER
Jesse Cormier is in his sixth year as head coach of the FGCU men's soccer program in the fall of 2022 after being hired in January of 2017 to become just the 2nd head coach in program history. Cormier has guided FGCU to a 38-33-16 (.521) record overall, including a 20-10-6 mark (.667) in ASUN play. The Eagles have reached the ASUN Tournament semifinals for nine of 10 seasons (every year of eligibility but one), as Cormier has coached 31 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 152-122-62 (.547) record as a head coach in his 16-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 92 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 45 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four 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 in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative 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--