FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's soccer team (6-2-4, 2-1-3 ASUN) delivered an offensive barrage in the final minute of the first half followed by an early goal in second half on Friday evening to defeat ASUN newcomer, Queens, 3-0. 

With the victory, the Eagles push their win streak to two and also move to third spot in the league, the conference tournament will feature only the top six teams. FGCU sits behind No.11 RPI ranked Lipscomb and No. 28 Central Arkansas.

Senior Davi Alves (Belo Horizonte, Brazil / West Florida) unbelievably scored back-to-back goals in the span of 20 seconds in the final minute of the first half to give the Eagles the lead. Freshman midfielder Alon Drey (Or 'Aqiva, Isarel) pushed FGCU's advantage in the 50^th minute with his first-career goal off an assist from Alves.  

"Thought we started a little flat emotionally and lacked the quality early," said head coach Jesse Cormier. " But developed some good collective ideas as the half progressed leading to both of Davi's goals just before the half. His willingness to run, join, combine and finish was a joy to watch tonight. The team is coming together well and I felt we were stronger in the second half and dominated territorially and in possession. To get a clean sheet against a very dynamic attack was the icing on the cake for the game. Just really proud of this team tonight."

FGCU was extremely dominant with 16 shots and five on goal to the Royals five shots and three on goal. Florida Gulf Coast had a 12-1 advantage on corner kicks. This was the Eagles second win with three goals.
Senior goalkeeper Wyatt Kistner (Midlothian, Va./Cosby HS) earned the victory and his fifth shutout of the season with three saves.

In the first half, Queens leading scorer Felipe Mendonca took the first shot on goal in the 23^rd minute but Kistner corraled it and kept the Royals off the scoreboard. The Eagles immediately responded firing three shots but none connected with the back of the net.

The Green and Blue's efforts were soon rewarded as sophomore Aaron Markowitz (Plantation, Fla./Western HS) passed the ball to the outside of the box to Alves, who then buried it in the upper right side for his fifth goal of the season.

The Royals defense were still shaken up by Alves' goal and senior Markus Maurer (Friedrichshafen, Germany/Monroe College) pretended to take the shot himself before passing to Alves who fired the ball into the middle of the net to get his sixth goal and give the Eagles a 2-0 lead going into the half.

The Green and Blue came out for the second half determined to push their advantage and Drey received a pass from Alves and sunk the ball in the middle of the net for his first-career goal and give FGCU the 3-0 advantage.

From there the Eagles kept applying pressure as they fired 10 shots that included four from graduate student Aedon Kyra (Sydney, Australia/UNLV) and two each from freshman Jacob Tatebe (Warren, Ohio/ Warren Harding HS) and sophomore Lucas Windscaher (Tampa, Fla/ Osceola HS), while the Eagles defense restricted the Royals to only two.
Queens' Maximilian Lebedev took the final shot of the game at the 86^th minute but it landed to the right of the net and sealed FGCU's victory

The Eagles will be right back in action on Tuesday, October 24 at 7 p.m. as they take the drive across Alligator Alley to battle against AAC member and NO.33 RPI ranked FIU (7-4-1, 3-2-1 AAC).

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 39-33-16 (.521) record overall, including a 21-10-6 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 153-122-62 (.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--