Florida Gulf Coast University women's soccer pulled off a dramatic, three-goal comeback Sunday in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship against North Alabama in Nashville, Tennessee, tying the game 3-3 and advancing 3-2 on penalty kicks to punch its ticket back to the NCAA Tournament.
"Absolutely amazing," head coach Jim Blankenship said. "I am proud of the ladies, and their effort. Like I said before, it's a resilient team, and today we got tested. Happy and proud that we were up for the battle. I'm confident in this group. We've been through a lot, we continue to grow and today was just a massive step in our program's development and our mentally. A lot of heart in the Eagles."
FGCU (12-4-5) won its eighth ASUN Tournament title in program history Sunday, going back-to-back for the first time since the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Women's soccer also propelled FGCU Athletics to the century mark in total conference championships at 100.
With just 27 minutes left to play, FGCU stared down a mighty 3-0 deficit, the largest deficit the Eagles have faced this season. Enter Erika Zschuppe to the rescue.
Zschuppe kept fighting and put the Eagles on her back to produce a hat trick performance, scoring in the 64th, the 66th and the 78th minute to tie the match at 3-3. Zschuppe is just the sixth Eagle ever to record a hat trick. The sophomore was named the ASUN All-Tournament Team MVP.
The Eagles forced penalty kicks by holding North Alabama scoreless through 20 minutes of overtime play.
Zschuppe, Ashley Labbe and Katelyn Kauffman each stepped in the box and drilled successful attempts. FGCU led 3-2 heading into the fifth frame, and the final Lions shot sailed over the crossbar to send the Eagles into a frenzy.
Freshman goalkeeper Olivia Molina made two huge saves between the pipes to force the Lions into the sudden death attempt in the final frame.
Molina, Labbe, and Kendal Gargiula were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
The ASUN Champion Eagles now await their placement in the 2023 NCAA Tournament with its automatic berth. The NCAA Women's Soccer Selection show will air Monday, Nov. 6th at 4 p.m. on NCAA.com. A link to the show will be on the front page of NCAA.com. The NCAA tournament appearance will be the 50th in FGCU Athletics history.
