FORT MYERS, Fla. – The postseason officially begins Saturday night as the fourth-seeded FGCU men's soccer team takes on fifth-seeded North Florida in the ASUN Championship Tournament quarterfinals.
The Eagles and Ospreys will play the first of two matches hosted by No. 1 overall seed Lipscomb. The match will kick off at 8 p.m. (7 p.m CT) and will be streamed live on
Lipscomb Bisons.
The Nashville, Tennessee site will then see the winner of UNF/FGCU take on the Bisons in Monday's ASUN semifinal match. Lipscomb earned a bye into Monday's semifinal round as the top seed. The ASUN Championship title match will be played on Saturday, Nov. 12 at the highest remaining seed.
FGCU is 7-4-4 in ASUN postseason play and the Eagles have played for the league title six times, winning four titles (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016). Saturday will mark the fifth time FGCU and North Florida have met in the ASUN Tournament with the Green and Blue leading 3-1.
The two sides met earlier this year in the regular season and resulted in a 0-0 tie in Tampa, Florida. FGCU outshot the Ospreys by a whopping 15-3 advantage while having seven shots on goal to their three. The Eagles also held a 4-0 advantage in corner kicks.
The Green and Blue is coming off a 6-3 defeat at Stetson on Tuesday after delivering a 1-0 shutout victory over No. 10 Lipscomb on Saturday.
For the season,
Davi Alves (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) continues to pace the offense with six goals which ranks fifth in the league. He was named to the ASUN All-Conference First Team. Freshmen
Alon Drey (Or'Aqiva, Isarel) and
Nadav Ohayon (Herzliya, Israel) each earned a spot on the All-ASUN Freshman Team.
Aedon Kyra (Sydney, Australia) is second for FGCU with five goals after he scored the only goal of the match against Lipscomb and sent fans and especially senior night parents into a frenzy in the 49
th minute.
Keeper
Wyatt Kistner (Midlothian, Va) has six shutouts with his last clean sheet against the Bisons to become the first goal keeper to secure a shutout with four saves against the regular-season champions. He currently has a .755 save percentage and 1.08 goals against average on the year.
Joaquin Acuna leads the Ospreys offense with two goals. Michah Gun is the keeper of record with a 0.80 goals-against-average and a 0.709 save percentage.
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 40-34-16 (.539) record overall, including a 22-11-6 mark (.659) 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 154-123-62 (.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--
