FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast University's men's soccer team got back on the winning track Saturday night, getting a late goal from
Salvador Martinez Romo to shut out North Florida, 1-0, in an Atlantic Sun Conference Graphite Division matchup at Pickering Field.
Martinez Romo, who was named the ASun's Player of the Week earlier this week, scored with 2:22 remaining to lift the Eagles to their first conference win of the 2025 campaign. Saturday's victory also stopped a six-match winless streak (0-4-2) for the Eagles (5-6-3, 1-2-1), allowed FGCU to surpass its win total from the 2024 campaign (when FGCU went 4-10-3), and gave the Eagles their most wins in a season since going 8-5-4 in 2022.
The Eagles – who picked up their third shutout of the season – also snapped North Florida's nine-match winning streak and Saturday marks FGCU's first win over North Florida (10-4, 3-1) since a 2-1 win at North Florida on Sept. 30, 2023, ending a winless run (0-2-1) of three straight matches against the Ospreays.
Saturday night's match got off to a slow start, with neither team registering a shot until
Caio Oliveira's shot in the 11
th minute was blocked by a North Florida defender. The Ospreys didn't have a shot until 23:03, when North Florida's Paul Schacherer had his shot blocked as well.
As the first half progressed, North Florida was able to put some shots on goal, but FGCU keeper
Oliver Weng made three saves in the opening 45 minutes to keep the match tied, 0-0, at halftime. North Florida outshot FGCU, 5-3, in the first half, including 3-0 in shots on goal. The Eagles had three corner kicks to two for North Florida and a total of nine fouls (six on FGCU, three on North Florida) were called in the opening half.
The second half saw neither team able to gain much traction offensively until the 88
th minute, when Martinez Romo got a pass from
Jai Sahni and put a right-footed shot into the top right corner of the net to give FGCU a 1-0 lead it would not relinquish. The goal was Martinez's fifth of the season, tying him with Oliveira for the team lead, and Sahni – playing in just his third match of the season – got his first assist on the goal.
For the match, FGCU outshot North Florida, 10-9, but the Ospreays had three shots on goal to FGCU's one. North Florida finished with six corner kicks to FGCU's five and the teams were whistled for 21 fouls, 11 on the Eagles and 10 on the Ospreays. Five yellow cards were handed out, four being issued to FGCU.
Martinez had three shots (one on goal) and
Edson Murguia had two shots, as five other FGCU players registered one shot apiece in the game. Weng finished with three saves to pick up the win in goal, making him 4-4-2 on the season with a 1.39 goals-against-average.
FGCU next plays again on Oct. 25, when the Eagles travel to Deland, Fla., to take on Stetson (4-7-1, 1-2-1) in another ASun Graphite Division matchup. Stetson won the first matchup, 3-1, at Pickering Field on Sept. 27. Kickoff for the rematch is at 7 p.m.
