FORT MYERS, Fla.- Keira Morgan scored twice and
Tessa Brooks netted her first goal of the season to lead the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles past the visiting Jacksonville Dolphins 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Pickering Field in Fort Myers. With the win, FGCU is now the last remaining unbeaten team in ASUN Conference action.
"Keira was phenomenal today" FGCU head coach
Jim Blankenship said. "Two assists Thursday and two goals today, she has been really big up front for our offense. We didn't play as clean as we could defensively, but any time you can pick up a result and three points against a good team like them, you will take it."
Keira Morgan got the scoring going for the league's top offense as
Lexie Bennett played a long ball ahead to get her in and Morgan won the race to the ball against the Jacksonville keeper for an easy left footed tap in to give FGCU a 1-0 lead in the 17
th minute of action.
The Dolphins answered right away, collecting a rebound and putting it into the back of the net just 1:39 later to level the score up 1-1.
There wasn't much in the way of scoring chances through the middle of the half and it wasn't until
Lily Borders cut out a JU run and made one of her own, firing a left footed shot just high over the goal in the 43
rd minute that it looked like the score had a chance to change.
FGCU managed just one shot on goal in the first 45 minutes of action, but they made it count as the Eagles and Dolphins found themselves even at one as they went to the locker rooms at the half.
For the second straight game the Eagles wasted little time in getting a goal on the board in the second half, as this time it was
Kaitlin Gabelman threading a pass to
Kate Friday, who got Morgan in for her second goal of the game to give FGCU the lead back 2-1 just 2:15 into the period.
The Dolphins were hunting the equalizer once again through the middle portion of the second and thought they had it in the 70
th minute as a corner kick made it's way to the front of the Eagle goal and a header from JU just missed it's mark, clanking off the crossbar and going high to keep it a 2-1 game in favor of FGCU.
Looking for some insurance,
Ryleigh Acosta and Brook Viccars put together an overlapping run in the 77
th minute, leading to a drive off the right foot of Viccars, but it was just off target as it remained a 2-1 game.
It didn't stay that way for long though as one minute later
Tessa Brooks collected a ball just outside the box and drilled it to the upper 90 past a diving JU keeper for her first goal of the season to make it 3-1 FGCU.
Just when it looked like the Eagles were going to cruise to the victory, the Dolphins made it interesting once again, getting one into the FGCU net in the 81
st minute to trim the Eagles lead back down to one at 3-2.
FGCU held possession for the majority of the final 10 minutes, but JU got a chance late, sending a potential game tying shot just high with 36 seconds remaining which proved as their final chance of the game as the Eagles held on to win 3-2.
Morgan was the star, backing up her multi-point game Thursday with her first career multi-goal contest with the two tallies. Brooks had a new career high four shots in the victory, two hitting their target and one ending up in the back of the net in her 64 minutes of action.
FGCU extends their unbeaten streak to 11 as they improve to 7-1-5 overall while holding their spot as the final team unbeaten in ASUN play as they move to 4-0-2 in league action. Jacksonville falls to 4-4-4 overall while dropping their first ASUN game of the year as they fall to 2-1-2 in league play.
FGCU improves to 16-3-7 all-time against Jacksonville and continues their home dominance of the Dolphins, moving to 11-1-3 at Pickering Field against JU.
After playing two games in each of the past three weeks, the Eagles will get a little respite this week as they are idle until Sunday when they host Stetson in their 2026 home finale, which will also serve as Senior Day where they will honor their five seniors ahead of their 1 p.m. kick off with the Hatters.
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