FORT MYERS, Fla. - Reigning Atlantic Sun Conference champions Florida Gulf Coast University softball will begin its title defense at the FGCU Kickoff Classic from Feb 6-9. Four games will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats and streaming links can be found on the FGCU softball schedule page.

The annual season-opening tournament will feature some familiar opponents as LIU returns for its third consecutive tournament and Boston College will return for the second straight year.

Boston University comes down to Fort Myers for the first time in school history. The Terriers have received votes in preseason polls and are coming off a year where they topped the country in ERA. This matchup will be the first of 10 this year between 2024 NCAA Tournament teams.

The Eagles-Terriers matchups should provide a clash of some of NCAA softball's best pitching with Allison Sparkman and Kasey Ricard both earning recognition in D1Softball's preseason player and positional rankings.

The Sycamores of Indiana State will face FGCU for the second time in school history. Indiana State finished last season with a 20-30 record.

Two Eagles are on milestone watch. Avery Viancos is seven hits away from 100 for her career and Olivia Black, the program's active leader in stolen bases, is five steals away from 50 for her career.

Following this weekend, the Green and Blue will travel to USF for a midweek doubleheader before returning home for their second home tournament of the season, the FGCU Invitational.