FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU women's soccer team got a late goal from senior
Grace Paradis (Kingston, N.H./Sanborn HS/St. John's) to take down Florida Atlantic, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at Pickering Field. Paradis just got her head on the ball in the 89
th minute as the Eagles improved to 2-3 while the Owls fall to 2-2-2.
"Phenomenal result for us," said head coach
Jim Blankenship. "We haven't gotten the results we've wanted, but I've been telling them to stay focused and that we are getting better each game. FAU is the best team we've played so far and our defense played great and we got rewarded for it at the end."
FAU had a 13-8 shot advantage, but in the second half, the Eagles outshot the Owls, 7-6, forcing more action in their offensive area. The Eagles also had a 7-3 edge in corner kicks including a 5-1 advantage in the second half.
The goal for Paradis was the first of the season for the senior and second in her FGCU career. Junior
Leah Scarpelli (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial HS/Penn State) and graduate student
Margaret Berry (Holly, Mich./Fenton HS/Boston University) helped shut down the Owls with their strong play on the back line, but also picked up assists on the goal.
In the net for the Green & Blue, graduate student
Katie Sullivan (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North HS/Creighton) made a season-high six saves for her first shutout of the season.
The first half was controlled by the Owls as they took seven shots, forcing Sullivan to make four saves. They continued to push early in the second half as they had one of their best chances on breakaway in the 53rd minute, but Paradis made her defensive contribution of the day as she came back to knock the ball out of harm's way.
The tide started to turn after that and the Eagles had a great chance in the 70
th minute as freshman
Kendal Gargiula (North Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) received the ball with just the keeper to beat, but Lexi Gonzalez was up for the task and made a diving save.
With just a couple of minutes remaining in a scoreless contest, the Eagles had the momentum as they earned two corner kicks in the final six minutes. They finally broke through as Scarpelli sent a cross into the box where Berry got her head on the ball before Paradis redirected it with her head which proved to be enough to get it past Gonzalez with just 93 seconds remaining.
The Eagles will look to carry the momentum into their next contest on Thursday when they travel to Tallahassee to take on #9 Florida State. Kickoff against the defending national champions is set for 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
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IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and
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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 185-72-27 (.699) overall record through the first 15 seasons of the program's existence, including an 93-19-15 (.791) mark in the ASUN. Blankenship's impressive career record of 425-143-38 (.733) over 31 seasons has come while leading FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence.
Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#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.
