FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Florida Gulf Coast women's soccer team earned a 2-0 win over Queens at Pickering Field on Sunday, honoring their nine seniors and graduate students with a victory on Senior Day. The Eagles avenged their only Atlantic Sun Conference loss of the season, a 1-0 decision against the Royals on Sept. 25. The Green and Blue have not lost in seven matches since that defeat. FGCU improved to 10-4-2 overall and 7-1-1 in the ASUN. The Eagles retained first place in the ASUN's Graphite Division with one match remaining in the regular season.
FGCU continued its trend of striking early. After
Maya Henley Buisan scored 17 seconds into the match against West Georgia on Thursday, it took just 2:37 for
Megan Morgan to break through for the Eagles. It was the graduate transfer's first goal in an FGCU uniform, and it came on Senior Day. She scored off a rebound after an
Erika Zschuppe header was saved by Queens goalkeeper Hannah Dike-Lawlor. Despite that being Morgan's first goal of the season, the former Florida State and Miami player has a team-leading six assists.
The Eagles have now scored eight goals in the first 10 minutes of a match this season. FGCU applied consistent pressure after Morgan's tally, but Dike-Lawlor kept her team in the match. She saved shots from
Lily Borders in the eighth minute, Zschuppe in the 14th,
Kate Friday in the 27th,
Kendal Gargiula and Zschuppe in the 32nd,
Tessa Brooks in the 33rd,
Keira Morgan in the 36th and Brooks again in the 38th.
FGCU eventually broke through for a second time, however. Zschuppe scored her Division I-leading 19th goal of the season and extended her nation-best goal streak to nine matches in the 39th minute on a right-footed strike into the top left corner of the net off a feed from
Elena Hinkson, the graduate student's fourth assist of the year. Zschuppe, who celebrated Senior Day on Sunday, finished the match with three points, as she was credited with an assist on Morgan's opening goal. Her 40 points also lead the country.
The ASUN Preseason Player and Midfielder of the year boosted her career totals to 44 goals and 106 points, both second in FGCU program history behind Tabby Tindell (2013-16), who recorded 66 goals and 162 points. Zschuppe's 19 goals this year are the second most in a single season in Eagles' history, one shy of Tindell's mark of 20 which she set in 2014. The senior's remarkable campaign is just the third in FGCU history that has reached the 40-point plateau, along with Tindell's 2014 season that saw her notch 48 points and her 2015 campaign that finished with 44.
FGCU's defense held Queens without a shot in the first half while the Eagles' offense attempted 18 shots in the opening period alone, putting 11 on goal.
The Royals' first shot came in the 54th minute and their first shot on goal came in the 61st minute. Freshman goalkeeper
Madara Matrevica made her only save of the day on Queens' lone shot on goal of the match. The Royals managed just three total shots, which tied for the fewest the Eagles have allowed in a match this season with their performances against Webber International on Aug. 17 and North Florida on Oct. 5.
FGCU secured its ninth clean sheet of the season and its sixth out of nine ASUN matches. The Eagles have outscored their opponents 29-3 in ASUN play and 26-1 in their seven match unbeaten streak. With the Eagles' 10th win of the season, head coach
Jim Blankenship secured his 18th double-digit win campaign in 19 seasons at the helm of the Green and Blue.
Florida Gulf Coast (10-4-2, 7-1-1 ASUN) returns to the pitch on Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. at Pickering Field for its final regular season match against Stetson. With a win, FGCU would claim the ASUN Graphite Division title no matter what second-place Jacksonville does the rest of the season. The Eagles downed the Hatters 5-0 on Sept. 21.
