FGCU Volleyball vs Lipscomb Recap

After a tough road loss to Kennesaw State, the FGCU volleyball team faced Lipscomb for conference play to wrap their 11-match road trip. The Eagles (10-6, 2-1 A-SUN) took down the Lady Bison (7-8, 1-2 A-SUN) 3-1 (25-18, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23). FGCU is now 6-16 overall against Lipscomb and ended their road trip 8-3 overall.

"While I am extremely happy to walk out of here with a win, what I'm most excited about was the team's response to a very specific challenge that we presented them with," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We have an expectation within this program, a standard relative to our preparation and focus that we did not meet on Friday night. Regardless of the outcome night to night, we have an obligation to each other that we did not meet. Today, these girls showed me a lot about who they are and how much that concept means to them. We had some great individual performances tonight, but those are secondary to the collective effort we got from everyone."

It was the duo of Junior outside hitter Amanda Carroll and freshman Cortney VanLiew that provided the offensive sparks the Eagles needed. Both Carroll and VanLiew had 16 kills, two blocks and one assist each. Carroll had nine digs while VanLiew had six digs and a service ace, but both fell short of a double-double.

Carroll's 16 kills pushed her to way second place on the program's career kills list, surpassing Olivia Mesner (1,132 kills from 2011-14). Carroll currently has 1,144 kills and is 24 kills away from surpassing beach volleyball Olympian and FGCU volleyball alumnus Brooke Youngquist Sweat (1,167 kills from 2004-07).

Freshman outside hitter Snowy Burnam added eight kills to the fray.

Junior setter Maggie Rick added five kills of her own to go with her 38 assists, one ace, four digs and two blocks.

Sophomore middle blocker Daniele Serrano had five kills and seven blocks.

Junior libero Karissa Rhoades had three assists and 13 digs.

Other players that contributed for the Eagles include junior middle blocker Sharonda Pickering (one kill, one dig and two blocks), junior right side hitter Kaiti Krivdo (one kill and one block), senior defensive specialist Courtney Stephens (four assists and eight digs), freshman outside hitter Alayna Ryan (one ace) and redshirt freshman Ciara DeBell (one block).

“I loved the fight we had in sets three and four, but we have to be better early in matches because we don’t seem to bring enough energy out of the gate,” said Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal. “We have to have the fortitude to get outside of our comfort zone and not play casual.

For Lipscomb, junior outside hitter Carlyle Nusbaum, who hit her 1,000th kill against No. 3 Florida, led the charge offensively with 19 kills, one block and eight digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Maddie Phillps had 10 kills, two aces, three blocks and two digs.

“I thought we had some good performances across the floor tonight. Lauren Anderson did a really nice job. We got good production from Carlyle and Maddie.”

Junior middle blocker Ca'Layci Coffey had two kills and four blocks.

Junior setter Marcella Emmanuelli and sophomore setter Morgan Elmore had at least 20 assists each (Emmanuelli (21); Elmore (24)).

Senior libero Brittany Thomas had three assists and 12 digs.

Both teams have combined a total of 30 blocks (FGCU 16; LIpscomb 14).

“The expectation is for us to win,” Rosenthal said. “That’s exactly what we signed up for, so we have to work through this. We are a championship program and there is no give up on this team. We will work through this and get better.” 

Up Next:

FGCU continues conference at home as they play USC Upstate at 7 P.M. and NJIT at 6 P.M. The match with Upstate is a White Out.

FGCU Volleyball: Conference vs. Kennesaw/Lipscomb Preview

Starting off strong after playing 11 straight matches on the road, the FGCU volleyball team continues their path as conference goes on and prepares to wrap up their 11 game road trip and face Lipscomb and Kennesaw State for conference play.

The Eagles (9-5) recently competed against Bethune-Cookman for non-conference play before beginning conference play on the road against Stetson. They would tame the Wildcats and shut them out 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-19) and shutout the Hatters 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-21) to open conference.

Since being on the road, the Eagles are 6-2 overall and will start off against the Owls (7-3, 1-0 A-SUN) at 7 p.m. and then play the Lady Bison (6-7, 0-1 A-SUN) at 5 p.m. before playing their first conference game at home against USC Upstate.

The duo of junior outside hitter Amanda Carroll and freshman outside hitter Cortney VanLiew still leads the charge on the road offensively. Carroll, in the last nine matches, has a total of 119 kills and 17 service aces. VanLiew had 98 kills and eight service aces in the last nine matches. Carroll moved from 18th to 16th in the nation in kills per set (4.60) and remains in the top 50 (48th) in kills (216).

Junior Setter Maggie Rick remains ranked 22nd in the nation in assists per set (11.29). In the last nine matches, the defending A-SUN Setter of the Year had 301 assists.

Junior libero Karissa Rhoades had 118 digs in the last nine matches.

Scouting Kennesaw:
The Owls (7-3, 1-0 A-SUN), prior to the start of conference, recently played against Georgia State and power five teams Georgia, No. 12 Kentucky (now No. 10) and Louisville. The would beat the Panthers 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-12) and the Bulldogs (27-25, 25-20, 25-19), but would fall 1-3 to the Wildcats (17-25, 26-24, 15-25, 19-25) and get shutout by the Cardinals 0-3 (21-25, 14-25, 20-25). They would win the first conference match against Lipscomb by a score of 3-2 (31-29, 19-25, 22-25, 27-25, 15-7).

Junior outside hitter Maddie Jones leads the team in kills (106) while senior setter Kristi Piedmonte leads with 356 assists.

Senior libero Katarina Morton leads with 143 digs and senior middle blocker Rachel Taylor leads with 23 blocks.

Series History:
The Eagles are currently 14- 6 against the Owls. Last time both teams met, both teams split in the season. The Eagle would lose 1-3 at Kennesaw, but would come back to win 3-2 at home. Both teams would play in the conference tournament semifinals where the Eagles would be victorious and win 3-2 to advance to the A-SUN Tournament Finals.

Scouting Lipscomb:
The Lady Bison (6-7, 0-1 A-SUN) recently competed in the Gator Invitational hosted by Florida. The three time A-SUN Conference Tournament champion team would shutout former A-SUN Conference member Northern Kentucky 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-20) and FAMU 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20) before falling to host No. 3 Florida (now No.1) 1-3 (20-25, 16-25, 25-19, 16-25). The Lady Bison lost their first conference match against Kennesaw by a score of 2-3.

Junior outside hitter Carlyle Nusbaum leads the team offensively with 235 kills. Junior setter Marcella Emmanuelli and sophomore setter Morgan Elmore combine a total of 550 assists. Defensively, junior middle blocker Ca'Layci Coffey,  junior right side hitter Carli Anderson, sophomore middle blocker Maddie Phillips and senior libero Brittany Thomas lead the charge on defense. Coffey, Phillips and Anderson have a combine total of 112 blocks while Thomas leads with 186 digs.

Series History:
In the matchups between FGCU and Lipscomb, FGCU is 5-16 against Lipscomb. Last time both teams met, both split in the season. FGCU would shutout Lipscomb at Lipscomb 3-0, which was the first win over the Lady Bison since 2012. Lipscomb would shutout FGCU 3-0 at FGCU in return. Both teams met in the finals of A-SUN Conference Tournament Championship match where Lipscomb emerged victorious and beat FGCU 3-1 to qualify for the national tournament.

So far, the standings in the A-SUN Conference of overall record and record in conference are as noted:
1. Kennesaw State 7-3, 1-0
2. FGCU 9-5, 1-0
3. Jacksonville 6-7, 1-0
4. USC Upstate  4-10, 1-0
5. NJIT  7-8, 0-1
6. Lipscomb  6-7, 0-1
North Florida 6-9, 0-1
Stetson 1-12, 0-1

FGCU VB vs. Stetson Recap: Match 1

The FGCU volleyball team (9-5, 1-0 A-SUN) opened conference play on the road as they shutout Stetson (1-12, 0-1 A-SUN) 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-21). With the win, the Eagles are now 18-2 against the Hatters.

Beginning with set one, the Hatters would start with a service ace from sophomore Naina Ivanova, but junior Sharonda Pickering would tie the match with a kill. After an attack error, sophomore Giovanna Borgiotti would make it up with a kill to tie the match.

Sophomore Daniele Serrano and junior Hao Jin exchanged two kills each before freshman Riley Nieporte and junior Amanda Carroll added kills of their own. The Hatters would take a two point lead after a kill from Jin and an attack error from junior Maggie Rick.

The Eagles would cut the Hatters lead to one after a Carroll kill, but a Rick setting error brought the Hatters lead back to a two point lead. The Eagles would score four straight points from back-to-back kill from Carroll and freshman Cortney VanLiew, two straight aces from Carroll to take the lead before the Hatters called timeout.

With the score 10-8 FGCU, the Eagles would have back-to-back kills from VanLiew and Borgiotti before Jin got back-to-back kills of her own. After an Ivanova ball handling error gave the Eagles a three point lead, junior Julie Varga would get a kill to cut the lead to two. The Eagles scored seven straight points after two kills from VanLiew, one kill from Rick, a kill from Serrano and a block to senior Shelby Connors and two service aces from senior Courtney Stephens before the Hatters used their final timeout.

With the score 20-11 in favor of FGCU, Rick would get another kill before Nieporte got a kill to stop the Eagles scoring run before Serrano added another kill. Ivanova would add another kill to the Hatter sscore before Connors was blocked by Rick. Jin would then get a kill before VanLiew answered back with a kill of her own to make it 24-14.

With the first set in favor of the Eagles, the Hatters would score two more points off of a Rick ball handling error and block Varga and Jin, but it was the Hatters could add up as Pickering sealed the first set for the Eagles with a kill.

Going into the second set, The Eagles would get two quick points from a block by Pickering and Borgiotti, who would follow with a kill afterwards, but the Hatters would quickly tie the score at 2-2 after a Nieporte kill and a Carroll attack error. It would then be in reverse after another block by Pickering and Borgiotti and a Carroll before got a kill. The Eagles would then score four straight points on a Pickering block to Connors, two straight Hatter attack errors from Connors and Nieporte before a VanLiew sent the Hatters to call a timeout.

With the score 8-3 FGCU, the Hatters would get a kill from Jin after the timeout before VanLiew returned the favor with another kill. Carroll would then make an attack error before bouncing with back-to-back kills with Serrano before sophomore Eva Deisa got a kill.

The Eagles would then get a kill from VanLiew and two straight kills from Carroll. Deisa then would counter with three straight points of her own from a kill and two aces before causing a service error. The Hatters would get on the board with double digits after a Pickering attack error, but it looked brushed off as Pickering bounced back with Borgiotti to block junior Charlotte Earnhart from scoring, which was followed by a Jin attack error. Earnhart would then bounce back with a kill of her own, but to avail as the Eagles score two more points after a Borgiotti kill and a Serrano block before the Hatters called their final timeout of the set.

After the final Hatters timeout, the Eagles would get two more points from an ace from junior Karissa Rhoades and another Ivanova attack error, but a block from Ivanova and Connors occurred gave the Hatters another point before a Borgiotti kill and a third Stephens ace gave the Eagles a 22-12 lead. Back-to-back service errors from Stephens and freshman Chelcie Spence would follow, giving Eagles set point. After a kill by Deisa, Serrano would seal the deal for set two with her seventh kill of the match.

After halftime, set three went underway, but this time the Hatters took the quick lead after an Ivanova ace, an Eagle attack error from freshman Snowy Burnam, a hatter block to VanLiew from Varga and freshman Rebecca Ingram, who would follow with a kill before the Eagles called their first timeout of the set.

After the timeout, the Eagles got on the board from an Ivanova serving error before the Hatters added two more points from a Burnam attack error and a Varga block to junior Kaitlan Krivdo before Burnam redeemed herself with a kill for the Eagles second point. After another Ingram kill, the Eagles would add two more points from a Serrano kill and a bad set from Ivanova before Jin added another kill for herself. The Eagles would score four straight from Borgiotti and Serrano. Borgiotti would get a kill and an ace while Serrano produced back-to-back kills to tie the set before the Hatters retook the lead from a VanLiew attack error before Serrano retied the lead with another kill.

After a kill from Deisa, would score four more straight points to take the lead in the third set after a VanLiew kill, a block from Krivdo and Burnam, a Varga attack error and a Krivdo kill before Deisa got another kill. The Eagles would add two more points from another Krivdo kill and block with Borgiotti before a VanLiew serving error cut the Eagles, but back-to-back kills from Krivdo and Burnam gave the Eagles a five point lead.

With the score 17-12 FGCU, the Hatters would get three straight points from two straight kills from Nieporte and a kill from Jin. After Rick got a kill, the Hatters would take advantage of an attack from redshirt freshman Ciara DeBell and two aces from junior Anna Bezhan. The Eagles and Hatters went back and forth with tying and retaking the lead with a Serrano, a Nieporte kill, a VanLiew kill and a serving error from freshman Alayna Ryan, but the Eagles would get a two point lead after back-to-back kills from Krivdo and Burnam before Stetson called their final timeout of the set.

After the timeout, the Eagle would bring the score to 24-20 after another kill from Krivdo and a Ivanova ball handling error. With match point in the Eagles sight, despite a block from Varga and Deisa, Krivdo would seal the deal with the final kill and win the match for FGCU.

Serrano and VanLiew lead the way with kills. Serrano finished with a team-leading 11 kills, two blocks and two digs while VanLiew finished with 10 kills, one assist, one block and seven digs.

Krivdo finished with six kills and two blocks.

Carroll was held to seven kills, snapping her 13-match streak of 10 or more kills. Carroll added two aces and five digs to the mix.

Rick had 40 assists, three kills, one block and three digs.

Stephens had two assists, three aces and seven digs.

Rhoades finished with 23 digs, one assist and one ace.

Borgiotti finished with six kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks and six digs

Burnam had three kills, one block and two digs.

Pickering had two kills, three blocks and a dig.

"We were really good from the service line and that's been something over the last couple weeks that's really dictated quite a few of our matches," said head coach Matt Botsford. "I thought we handled the ball pretty well in the first two sets, obviously things got pretty sloppy in the third but I'm glad the kids were able to battle it out. Dani (Serrano) and Kaitlan (Krivdo) both hit over .500 tonight and played really well in that third set. Krivdo hit at a really high efficiency and Dani, when we made some changes, stepped up and showed a lot of leadership."

The Eagles finished with seven aces and nine blocks throughout the match.

"[Serving] makes a big difference for us and it takes teams out of system," Botsford commented on his team's seven aces. It's still not as clean as we would have liked but we'll take it."

For the Hatters, no player reached double digits in kills. Jin lead the team with nine kills, two blocks and four digs. Jin was the closest to getting at least 10 kills.

Nieporte had seven kills and five digs.

Spence had 15 digs and two assists.

Ivanova had 19 assists, one kill, two aces, a block and eight digs.

Varga had one kill, five blocks and one dig.

Deisa had five kills, two assists, two aces, one block and nine digs.

Ingram had two kills and a block.

Earnhart had one kill.

Behzan had two aces, a dig and a block.

Connors had a block and two digs.

"I thought the girls had a little more energy than normal during the pregame warm-up," Stetson head coach Yang Deng said.  "The focus was really good.  They were really excited to start conference, but also to prove that they can do better this year. This game just teaches that we still have a lot of work to do to be more competitive, but the girls are on the same page and they know what needs to be done."

FGCU Volleyball vs Bethune-Cookman Recap: Match 1

The FGCU volleyball team (8-5) continued on their 11-match road trip with another victory as they swept Bethune-Cookman (2-5) 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-19) for non-conerence play. With the win, the Eagles are now 11-0 against the Wildcats.

Beginning with set one, junior Amanda Carroll began with a quick kill to put the Eagles up 1-0, but the Wildcats would counter with back-to-back kills from freshman Jordan Jefferson before an attack error occurred from freshman Cortney VanLiew. 

The Eagles would get their second point on the board after a block from sophomore Giovanna Borgiotti and junior Sharonda Pickering before Jefferson added one more kill, giving the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.

The Eagles would retie the score to 4-4 after a kill from sophomore Daniele Serrano and a Wildcat ball handling error from senior Phalen Clark, but the Wildcats would retake the lead after back-to-back kills from Jefferson and sophomore Alayna Handy.

With the score 6-4 in favor of the Wildcats, the Eagles would retie the score for the second time after back-to-back kills from Serrano and Carroll before the Wildcats retook the lead for a second time after a kill from senior Rakaya Neely before the Eagles retied the lead for the third time after a Neely service error.

The Wildcats would retake the lead after freshman Alayna Ryan, who subbed in, hit a service error, a service ace from Clark and a kill from Handy for a 10-7 Wildcat lead.

The Eagles would cut the Wildcats lead to two after blocks from Carroll and Pickering. After the Wildcats regain a three-point lead from a Carroll attack error, the Eagles would bring the lead back to two again after a kill from Borgiotti. The score would go back and forth from two and three point leads until the Eagles cut the lead to one point after back-to-back kills from Borgiotti and junior Maggie Rick, but Jefferson brought it back to two points with a kill.

With the score 14-12 still in favor of BCU, the Eagles would retie the lead after back-to-back kills from Serrano and Carroll. The Wildcats would briefly take a one point lead after a kill from Handy until kills from Carroll and a Handy attack error gave the Eagles a 17-15 lead. 

The Wildcats would retie the lead after another Ryan service error and a Handy kill, but the Eagles would regain the lead after a kill from Carroll and a service ace from Rick for a 19-17 Eagle lead.

After a Wildcat timeout, Borgiotti and Pickering got another block to make it 20-17 before another Handy kill made 20-18 FGCU, but another block from Pickering and Carroll occurred before a kill from freshman Micaiah Hill made it 21-19 FGCU. After another attack error from Jefferson, BCU called their final timeout of the set.

After the timeout, the Wildcats would score another point after Neely kill, but a kill from Serrano kept the Eagles lead to three. While Rick got another kill, Handy added back-to-back kills before the Eagles called timeout.

After the Eagles timeout, Handy would hit a service error, giving the Eagles the first set.

Going into the second set, after a block from Pickering and Borgiotti and a Rick service error, the Eagles would pick up back-to-back kills from Carroll and Pickering before a Carroll service ace, but but a Jefferson kill and a service error from junior J'Nai Higgins cut the lead to 4-3 before the Eagles took advantage of a Higgins service error making it 5-3. The Wildcats would add another kill from Neely before back-to-back kills came from Serrano and VanLiew.

VanLiew would then cause an attack error before bouncing back with a kill to make it 8-5 before Handy made it 8-6 after a kill. After a Handy service error, back-to-back Eagle kills came from Pickering and Carroll again before a kill from junior Meraiah Hill made it 11-7 FGCU.

The Eagles would score six straight points off of kills from Carroll and Pickering, an ace from rick and blocks from Pickering and Borgiotti made it 17-7 FGCU before BCU used both timeouts.

After the final timeout, the Wildcats would add another point after a Borgiotti attack error, but an attack error from senior Jessica Emile and a kill from VanLiew kept the Wildcats in single digits. After another Wildcat kill from Handy and a Eagle kill from Pickering, Jefferson would put the Wildcats in double-digits for the second set before Borgiotti added another Eagle kill.

After back-to-back attack errors occurred from Handy and junior Kaitlin Krivdo, a kill from freshman Faith Landreneaux made it 22-12 for the Eagles. A kill from Serrano and Handy made it 23-13 in favor of the Eagles, and they would take the second set after a Pickering kill and a bad set from Clark.

Going into the third and final set, Carroll started with a kill and a service ace to give the Eagles a quick 2-0 lead, but back-to-back kills from sophomore Miranda White and an attack error from redshirt freshman Ciara DeBell gave the Wildcats a brief 3-2 lead. The Eagles would retake the lead after a kill from VanLiew and a ball handling error before a service error from junior Karissa Rhoades made it 4-4. After back-to-back kills from Carroll and VanLiew and an attack error from Jefferson, Jefferson would get another Wildcat kill before Serrano would get another Eagle kill.

After a VanLiew service error, Serrano would get another Eagle kill before a Landreneaux kill and a Carroll error made it 9-8 still in favor of FGCU, but a Carroll kill and a block from Pickering and DeBell made it 11-8. After a Jefferson kill and a Pickering attack error, Carroll would get another kill before Jefferson got a Wildcat kill before VanLiew added another Eagle kill.

The Wildcats would regain the lead briefly a Neely kill and back-to-back attack errors from Pickering and VanLiew before a White service error and a Handy attack error gave the Eagles back their lead before a VanLiew attack error retied the score.

After back-to-back kills from Rick and Carroll, a attack error from Carroll, and back-to-back Wildcat attack errors from Clark and Handy, back-to-back Wildcat kills came from Landreneaux and Handy, cutting the Eagle lead to one point. After four straight Eagle points from a Rick kill, a Carroll block and two Carroll kills gave the Eagles a 23-18 lead, a Landreneaux kill made it 23-19 FGCU, but it would not be very effective as a Clark ball-handling error and VanLiew kill sealed the final set for the Eagles.

"I thought Karissa (Rhoades) came back from what I thought was a subpar first set to have a great night defensively. I challenged her and she rose to that and other people caught on," said head coach Matt Botsford. "Amanda (Carroll) again had a great night; to hit at that kind of efficiency when people know you're going to get the ball is very difficult. Outside of that, GioGio (Borgiotti) added another element on the right side."

Carroll lead the way with 17 kills, three blocks, two aces, and six digs

Serrano was second with eight kills. 

Rick finished with 32 assists, four kills, two aces, and six digs.

Borgiotti finished with three kills, four blocks and a dig.

VanLiew finished with seven kills and seven digs.

Rhoades also added 16 digs to go with her five assists.

Ryan had two digs.

Pickering finished with five kills and eight blocks.

Debell had one block and one dig. 

Freshman Snowy Burnam had one dig. 

Lone senior Courtney Stephens had five digs.

Defensively, the Eagles had 16 total blocks and 44 digs.

For the Wildcats, Handy lead the way offensively with a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs

Jefferson also had a double-double of 10 kills and 12 digs, along with two assists.

Clark had 32 assists, one ace, one block and five digs.

Landreneaux had four kills, one block and one dig.

Neely had five kills, two blocks and three digs.

Senior Rechez Lindsay had 13 digs.

Higgins had one assist, one ace and five digs.

White had two kills, one assist and two digs.

Micaiah Hill and Meraiah Hill had one kill each. Meraiah added one dig.

"It definitely wasn't the outcome we wanted, but for three days of effort going against a strong team like FGCU, I'm proud of the effort," said Bethune head coach Brittany Williams. "If we could have had the perfect effort, it's something I would have been satisfied with. For most of that match, we had that perfect. If we can get a week of practice under our belts, we'll be fine once conference starts."

"Alana came out strong, and Jordan had a double-double again. Proud of the outside hitters. Neely's a game changer when she's in the there. Rechez is not scared of the ball and is playing solid defense," Williams added.

The Eagles continue their 11-match road trip as they prepare for conference play beginning with Stetson on Saturday at 3 P.M.

FGCU Volleyball: FGCU vs. Bethune Cookman Preview

After being on road for two straight tournaments, the FGCU volleyball team, still on the road returns to the states to face Bethune-Cookman before beginning conference play.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles (7-5) recently competed in the Hoosier Classic hosted by Indiana University. The shutout Samford 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20) and UNLV 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-14), but would fall to host Indiana 2-3 (25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 10-15).

Originally, The Eagles were scheduled to play FIU, but was postponed due to Hurricane Irma. No makeup date has been announced for that match. Previously, the Eagles played the Panthers at the Alico Arena in the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational for their season opener. The Eagles would sweep the Panther 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-23).

At the end of the Hoosier Classic, FGCU went 2-1 in the tournament and ended in a three way tie with Indiana and Samford, who also went 2-1 in the tournament.

Juniors Amanda Carroll, Karissa Rhoades and Maggie Rick were all named to the Hoosier Classic All-Tournament Team, and the duo of Carroll and freshman Cortney VanLiew also made a big difference.

Currently, Carroll has 192 kills and recently reached the 1,000 kill mark during her performance against Wofford in the Davidson. Carroll, who was named A-SUN Player of the Week, ranks 40 in the nation in kills and 18 in the nation in kills per set (4.57).

VanLiew, who was recently named A-SUN Freshman of the Week for her performance in the Indiana Classic. VanLiew is second in kills (143).

Hoping to defend her title as the A-SUN Setter of the Year, Rick is ranked 50th in the nation in assists (470) and 24th in the nation in assists per set (11.19).

Since transitioning from D2 to D1 in 2007, the Eagles have won via shutout 107 times.

Scouting Bethune:
Previously, the Wildcats (2-4) were suppose to compete in the USF Invitational, but was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. They recently competed in the Bash at the Boro hosted by Georgia Southern.

The Wildcats would beat Charlotte 3-2 (21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12) and host Georgia Southern 3-1 (25-18, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21), but would fall to UNF 1-3 (19-25, 25-18, 20-25, 19-25).

Jordan Jefferson leads the team in kills (85) and in six straight matches, the freshman outside hitter produced six straight double-doubles.

Meraiah Hill and Rakaya Neely, who was named Bash at the Boro All-Tournament MVP, have combined a total 45 blocks.

Series History:
Overall, FGCU is 10-0 in the series against Bethune. The last time both teams met was in 2016, where the Eagles shut out the Wildcats 3-0 at Bethune and then won again at FGCU by a score of 3-1.

For this year, it will be the 11th and 12th time both the Eagles and the Panthers will face each other.

They will play on Friday September 22nd at 6 pm at Bethune and on Tuesday October 17th at 6 pm at FGCU.

FGCU Men's Soccer vs. UCF Recap

Aside from getting hit in the head with a soccer ball before the game and possibly having a concussion, the FGCU men's soccer team (2-3-1) came out victorious with a 1-0 victory by dethroning the UCF (1-3-1). With the win, the Eagles are now 3-1-2 overall against the Golden Knights.

"We took a lot of pride in being on our home field," stated FGCU head coach Jesse Cormier as the athletic department once again did not charge for admission in the wake of Hurricane Irma. "The biggest difference between our 2-2 tie on Friday against Loyola Marymount and tonight was that we were able to finish the game this evening. We had some scary moments near the end. But I thought we had a good idea of how we wanted to play and things we wanted to do, and the guys executed that and were very disciplined in their approach."

The Eagles had a saving grace for the lone goal of the game: Preston Kilwien. The junior defender in the 79th minute of the game hit a header that would turn out to be the decider for the game over the Golden Knights.

"I think that they (UCF) were easily ones we played," said Kilwien. "Their midfielder was unreal, but we shut them down today."

"We were just fighting the whole time. Last game, we played a really good first half, but second half, we kind of dropped off, so we needed to keep up with both halves.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Connor Gavigan would be credited with the shutout win and two saves.

Sophomore goalkeeper Matt Rosenberg was credited with the loss after giving up the goal and having two saves.

Freshman goalkeeper Yannik Oettl, the original starting goalkeeper, was suspended and not able to travel with the team after receiving a red card in the previous match against #14 West Virginia.

Seniors Albert Ruiz and Kamar Marriott did not play still due to injury.

I want to go back to the whole concussion situation and give you an update. Before the match started, I was talking with some of the Dirty Birds about UCF and their goalkeeper. 15 minutes before the match, UCF was practicing and I'm leaning on the barrier when all of a sudden, THUMP!!! A soccer ball comes flying out of nowhere and hits me smack dab on the head, and I literally got put into the bleachers. I was holding my head briefly and then shook it off and said "Wow, what a thump."

Everyone went to check on me including Gary Sackos, the head of event staff. I told everyone I was fine, but one fan gave me a bottle of water to help me cool down just to be safe.

After the game, my head was faintly throbbing and I felt a little woozy, so I talked to assistant coach Sheldon Cipriani about what happened. He told me I might have a mild concussion, which I had a feeling that it could be a possibility. I went back to my dorm with my head still throbbing, drank a lot of water and took some Aleve to reduce the throbbing, which helped.

The day after the game, I wanted to make sure I was ok, so I called the clinic at FGCU to see if I did have a concussion, just to be safe. The test results were negative, so there was no signs of a concussion, which I was extremely relieved. I just got to be more careful and stay alert for flying soccer balls.

Conference play for FGCU will start Saturday as FGCU will open conference at home against Jacksonville. The game will start at 7 pm and for people that attend the game, it is a blueout.

FGCU Women's Soccer vs Webber Recap

After a lot of hype, the FGCU women's soccer took it to the limit and shutout NAIA Webber 8-0. This was the first time the Eagles (7-2) and the Warriors (2-0) faced each other, but it was also the second time the Eagles have faced an NAIA team.

Of course for Webber, because they are NAIA and are playing against an NCAA DI team, the game did not count as a season game and was listed as an exhibition game. For FGCU, the game is listed as a season game, but will not effect their RPI ranking.

Sophomore Melissa Weck was the starting goalkeeper for FGCU while senior Sarah McKinney started for Webber.

FGCU had four goals in both halves and were effective offensively and defensively.

24 minutes into the first half, junior Camille Knudstrup started with a header for the first goal of the game with an assist from sophomore Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen. Knudstrup's goal was her first goal of the season.

It took 23 seconds later for the second goal to occur as senior Varin Ness got a touch pass and scored the second goal, her third goal of the season, with assists from Boilesen and graduate student Kiana Rugar.

After a Webber yellow card was issued to freshman Isabella Aviolla, and a blocked penalty shot attempt from senior Lauren Greene, redshirt senior Nikki Hudson scored the third goal of the match, her first of the season, with an assist from Knudstrup.

45 seconds later, junior Holly Fritz would score the fourth goal of the match, her third of the season, with assists from Greene and redshirt freshman Jocelyn Nelson before the end of the first half.

Before the second half, Weck was replaced by redshirt junior Elyse Hansen to play the entire second half.

14 minutes into the second half, Ness would score the fifth goal, her fourth of the season and second in the game with an assist from freshman Cassidy Morgan.

One minute later, Boilesen would scored the sixth goal of the game on a penalty kick. The goal for the West Florida transfer was her sixth goal of the season.

Three minutes later, senior Meaghan Mulligan would pass to an open redshirt senior Paige Law for a chipper for the seventh goal of the game and Law's first goal of the season.

With 10:25 left in the second half, the most eye-catching moment happened with sophomore Silvana "Silv" Gordon. As she got the ball, two warriors started chasing her to get the ball. As Gordon attempted a cross shot, she then finessed and faked out the two players not once, but twice. I haven't seen that in a long while since senior men's soccer player Jiro Barriga Toyama's finess goal shot last year. It was awesome.

With less than 10 minutes left in the game, Rugar would seal the deal with the final goal, her second of the season, with assists from Morgan and freshman Hope Van Wagner.

Afterwards, the whole bench was emptied for FGCU as Greene, Gordon, fellow sophomores, Petra Smetkova and Emilie Olsen, freshmen Zoey Spitzer, Kavina Ganeshan and Lauren Moss, and juniors Shay Jackson and Ashley Blanchard entered/reentered the game. Redshirt senior Ashley Parks was the only Eagle that remained in the second half.

Both Weck and Hansen did not give up any goals in 45 minutes each.

McKinney gave up all eight goals and had 13 saves.

Ness would be the only Eagle to score more than one goal in the game. Ness shot three times with all of them on goal.

Boilesen and Morgan finished with two assists each. Knudstrup, Rugar, Nelson, Greene, Mulligan, and Van Wagner had one assist each.

The Eagles took 45 shots, which is now a program record while the Warriors took only two. Freshman Marianna Scine and junior Luiza Oliveira had the Warriors lone shots in the match.

The eight goals FGCU produced was the third highest in program history and the highest amount since 2011.

"This weekend was all about getting back to normal," said head coach Jim Blankenship. "A little bit was trying to get back and assess what was going on at home and get back to a normal life. On the bright side, we had this game on Monday otherwise we may not have got this in. I'm very happy with the effort tonight. They came out with a purpose and once they connected some passes and got the goal we felt like more would come."

The Eagles did not get back to campus until early Friday evening after being scheduled to arrive back from Arizona on Monday. Because of Hurricane Irma, the Eagles remained in Arizona, but greeted their home fans with a tremendous offensive showing.

"In Arizona, they (the University of Arizona) let us train on our field, so we were able to not miss a day," said Law. "I think it helped us more because it was very, very hot, and we were not use to it."

"We came off the field, and it was 102°, and we were just like 'we are never complaining about the Florida heat, so we were well prepared coming back, the travel day was long, but we got right after it when we landed."

"We were fortunate to be in Arizona this past week," Blankenship added. "They absolutely took care of us. We tried to keep a little bit of normalcy even though every second of the day the kids are watching tv or checking their phones to check in on family members. We were safe and together and now we're back home in front of our fans."

With that, FGCU will begin conference away by playing Stetson in Deland on Saturday at 7 pm.

Below are pics with me and some of the soccer players after the game:

From left to right: Ashley Parks, Marjorie Boilesen, me, Nikki Hudson and Lauren Greene

With Shay Jackson

From left to right: freshmen Cassidy Morgan, Kavina Ganeshan and Lauren Moss

 

FGCU Cross Country Bios

With another season in the works, the FGCU cross country teams make their way to prepare for another new season.

Overall, on the women's team, the highest placing they got was in second place last season while on the men's side, the team finished no lower than third through the whole season.

In the A-SUN Conference Meet, the men finished third overall while the women finished fifth, and in the NCAA South Regional Championship, both teams finished in 17th overall.

Unlike basketball, volleyball and soccer, cross country does not have a record as wins and losses. They go by placing. It's the same with golf.


The team is led by head coach Cassandra Goodson. Goodson, a native of The Chassworth, California, enters her ninth season as head coach.

Prior to her coaching career, Goodson competed in cross country in her first two seasons at Diablo Valley College in the Big 8 Conference of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA). There she was the NorCal 10,000-meter champion and finished fifth in the state in the same event.

After her stint with the Vikings, Goodson transferred to Southern Miss where she helped the Lady Eagles to a second-place finish in 2005 with two fourth-place finishes in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. She was a two-year letter-winner, and owns two school indoor records in the 3,000 meter with a time of 10:16.55 and the 5,000 meter with a time of 17:52.65. She also holds the school record in the outdoor 5,000 meters with a time of 17:31.81 and the 10,000 meters with a time of 37:01.65.

After graduating from Southern Miss, Goodson competed professionally throughout the United States in sanctioned USA Track and Field road races before landing a job with Southern Miss, where she served as the head cross country and assistant track and field coach from 2006-2008. In her three years at Southern Miss, Goodson’s coaching efforts produced three track and field program records and an NCAA Regional Qualifier.

After her three years with Southern Miss, Goodson accepted an offer to be head coach for both of FGCU's cross country teams. In her inaugural season Goodson paced Megan Thies to a new program record and Kyle Brunette to improve his personal record by almost two minutes.

In her first three seasons with the Green and Blue, Goodson was constantly moving forward while achieving a slew of program firsts including three overall meet wins and three members named to the A-SUN All-Freshmen teams. Her athletes continually broke program records and posted personal bests.

During the 2011 campaign, Goodson led the men’s team to three top-five finishes, including a season-opening first place finish at the FGCU Invitational, and top 10 finishes in all six competitions. The women’s team saw equal success under her guidance with top 10 finishes in every meet and three top five finishes. Four women’s runners established new personal-best 5K times, while nine men’s runners set new personal-bests in 8K events. At the A-SUN Conference Championship the Green and Blue ran to a seventh place finish in the women’s 5K while the men took eighth overall in the 8K race. Additionally, Goodson coached a pair of men’s and women’s runners at the NCAA South Regional in Tuscaloosa, Ala. in the Eagles’ first year of eligibility as a DI team.

In 2012, Goodson guided the men to five top-five finishes, a program-best fourth place finish at conference championships and the team’s first trip to NCAA South Regionals. On Oct. 29, the men were ranked 14th in the South Region poll conducted by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and ended the season listed third in the rankings of NCAA D-I cross country only schools. The women saw a similar success finishing in the top five four times and sending a pair to NCAA Regionals.

During the 2013 season, Goodson led the men’s team to five top-five finishes, a first-place finish at the Westminster Academy Invite, wins over Miami, LSU and Vanderbilt, a fourth-place finish at conference championships and the program’s second trip to NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. The women also placed first at the Westminster Academy Invite and finished two meets in the top-five. A total 36 personal-bests and 20 individual top-10 finishes were recorded.

In 2014, Goodson's programs continued their record-breaking success, culminating at the A-SUN Championships where the women took third place, the program's first-ever mark inside the top three, while the men claimed fourth for the third-consecutive year. During the regular season, the women finished inside the top 10 in all five races, posted a third-place finish and won the Stetson Invitational to begin the year. On the men's side, the team won the South Florida Invitational in its second meet of the year, closed in third place in the Stetson Invitational and posted two fourth-place finishes in the regular season.

During the 2015 season, the Green and Blue posted program records with a pair of third-place finishes at the A-SUN Conference Championships. The women tied their mark from 2014 while the men bested theirs by one position. Additionally, the women finished in a program-best 13th place at the NCAA South Region Championships, improving 11 places from their finish at the season-ending meet a year ago.

Goodson guided the men’s team to its best season in program history in 2016, when it won a trio of races and matched program best finishes at both the A-SUN and NCAA South Region Championships, where the Eagles finished third and 17th, respectively. The Eagles capped off the season at the NCAA South Region Championships, where they placed four runners in the top-100 for the first time in program history.

With her strong background of experience collegiately and professionally, Goodson will make impact for her runners to keep working hard.


Joining Goodson as an assistant coach is Argeo Cruz. A native of Immokalee, Cruz enters his fourth season as assistant coach.

Prior to his coaching career, Cruz ran for FGCU all four years. A four-year letter-winner for the Eagles, Cruz’s collegiate running career was arguably the most successful in FGCU men’s cross country history. He racked up five A-SUN honors and, on numerous occasions, etched his name in the FGCU record books.

In the last two seasons, he led FGCU in an incredible 12 of 14 races. In his senior season, Cruz capped his career by being named to the A-SUN First Team and NCAA South All-Region Team. He was crowned the A-SUN Runner of the Week in October and placed first overall at the UCF Black and Gold Invite.

Cruz’s name is littered throughout the FGCU record book as he owns four of the top-10 8k times, including the top 2, in program history and two of the top-10, including the fastest, in the 10k.

After graduating, he joined Goodson as an assistant coach. During his first season as a coach, the women's team took bronze at the A-SUN Championship meet, while the men finished fourth. Both finishes were good for then-program records. The women ran to a first place finish at the season-opening Stetson Invitational, while the men crossed the finish line first at the USF Invitational.

In his second season, In 2015, Cruz helped lead the Eagles to a pair of program-best finishes as both the men's and women's teams finished third at the A-SUN meet. The women matched their program-best mark from 2014, while the men improved their program-best finish by one position. Neither team finished outside of the top-five in a regular season race all season, while the women earned a team win at the USF Invitational. Additionally, the women finished in a program-best 13th at the NCAA South Region Championship.

During the 2016 season, Cruz helped mentor runner Luka Ndungu to arguably the most prolific season in program history as he helped led the men’s team to a trio of first-place finishes and its first regional ranking since 2012. The men’s team matched a program best finish at both the A-SUN and NCAA South Region Championships by crossing the finish line 3rd and 18th, respectively. FGCU not only saw its most student-athletes receive A-SUN All-Conference recognition in the same season with three taking home first and second team honors, but also placed men’s runners in the top-100 at the NCAA South Region Championship for the first time in program history.

Cruz has helped coach 10 individuals to a total of 21 times that appear in the top-10 of the 8K and 10K for the men and 5K and 6K for the women on the FGCU All-Time Records list.

With his coaching role and experience as a runner, Cruz still remains successful and will continue to be successful.

With two new teams comes new changes.

From the women's team, Stephanie Cajas, Regan Farrow and Emily Perkinson have departed as they graduated.

Senior Kaitlyn Sullivan, who competed in both cross country and women's soccer, is no longer on the team as she focuses on her major.

From the men's team, Charles Bengtson, Alex Delle Monache and Luka Ndungu have also graduated.

Sophomore Quasan Markowski has quit.

Senior Kenny Castro quit due to personal reasons.

For the women, the team consists of one senior, two juniors, one transfer and two freshman while on the men's team, they consist of three seniors, one junior, two sophomores and two freshman.

The four seniors have paved their way to the big time: Anita Munoz of the women's team and Ronny Greenup, Leonel "Leo" Delacruz and Troy Clark from the men's team.


The lone senior on the women's team is Anita Munoz.

At 5-3 and hailing from Immokalee, Florida, Munoz has had her fair share in the meets.

In her freshman year, Munoz competed in all six races, and finished seventh at the Stetson Hatter Invitational with a time of 19:51.37, 16th at the South Florida Invitational with a time of 19:24.01, finished 70th in a time of 18:59.89 at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational, finished the Greater Louisville Classic with a time of 19:27.87, finished in 55th place at the FSU Seminole Invitational with a time of 20:02.10 and  placed 31st overall at the Atlantic Sun Championship with a time of 19:02.15.

In her sophomore year, Munoz kept making her mark. She competed in all six races and finished strong in each race. Munoz finished in a season-best 15th place at the UNF Invitational in a time of 19:16.05, clocked a season-best time of 18:32.69 and placed 19th at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational, which was good for the fifth best on the team this season and the fourth best for a sophomore runner in program history. She crossed the finish line 17th overall in a time of 19:12.84 at the Upstate Invitational, ran a 6k pace of 22:56.90, placed 18th at the USF Invitational, finished 21st at the A-Sun Championships after running a time of 18:37.39 and capped off the season with a top-100 finish (94th) as she crossed third among FGCU runners at the NCAA South Regional Championships with a time of 22:23.20. Munoz was named a member of the A-SUN Conference All-Academic Team in the end.

In her junior year, Munoz was named team captain for her hard work. She was one of two runners to compete in all seven races where she paced the Eagles in each of the first three races and turned in three of the team’s top five times in the 5k and finished in the top-30 in six of seven races. Munoz finished in a season-best 2nd place with a time of 19:07.7 at the FAU Invitational, placed 11th in 10:47.86 at the UNF Invitational, crossed in 18:59.19 and placed 26th at the Mountain Dew Invitational,  clocked a season-best time of 18:37.16 and finished 11th at the Upstate Invitational, finished 19th in 19:26.57 at the USF Invitational, finished 2nd among FGCU runners and 27th overall with a time of 19:00.11 at the A-SUN Championships and placed 132nd in 22:56.7 at the NCAA South Regional.

Munoz was named on the A-SUN Conference All-Academic Team for the second year in a row.

As the lone senior, she will make sure that she will give it all she's got.


The first of three seniors on the men's team is Ronny Greenup.

At 6-1 and hailing from Miami, Florida, Greenup is here to make his presence known for FGCU.

Prior to FGCU, Greenup spent his first two seasons at FIU. Greenup had an outstanding rookie season for the cross country team, winning three of the seven meets he ran where he ran his best 8K at the UCF Cross Country Invitational (25.11.70). Greenup, during the indoor track season, was part of the men’s distance medley relay that took second place at the Winston-Salem State Open where his best race times were 8:38.59 in the 3K and 14:51.24 in the 5K.

In his sophomore year, Greenup started the season with a pair of top-three finishes at the FAU Invitational (15:37.50) and UCF Invitational (26:36.30), finished 20th in a field of more than 300 at the Mountain Dew Invitational in a season-best time of 26:21.00, crossed 9th at the USF Invitational in a time of 26:36.90 and finished 52nd in the C-USA Conference Championship.

After his stint with the Panthers, Greenup transferred to FGCU his junior and was a success. He competed in six races and finished in the top-10 on five occasions. Greenup began his career at FGCU with a 6th place finish in 15:50.9 at the FAU Invitational, won his next race after crossing the finish line in 15:53.03 at the UNF Invitational, 8th with a time of 26:00.66 at the Mountain Dew Invitational, ran a season-best time of 25:20.14 and finished 4th at the Upstate Invitational, which was 7th best all-time, 7th at the A-SUN Championships in a time of 25:34.65, which was the 3rd best in program history, finished 98th with a time of 32:59.7 at the NCAA South Regional and helped FGCU place four runners in the top-100 of the NCAA meet for the first time in program history. He did so well that he earned A-SUN All-Conference First Team honors.

Greenup will give one final breath to make the magic happen.


Next is Leonel "Leo" Delacruz.

At 5-5 and hailing from Immokalee, Florida, Cruz wants his competition to know who he is.

In his freshman, Cruz competed in four races where he finished 23rd with a time of 28:54.89 at the Stetson Hatter Invitational, 49th at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational with a time of 27:03.77, 24th at the FSU Seminole Invitational with a time of 26:36.54 and 38th at the Atlantic Sun Championship with a time of 27:24.77.

In his sophomore year, Cruz competed in five races. Cruz finished 41st at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational with a time of 27:41.00, 28th at the Upstate Invitational with a time of 27:20.55, placed in a season-best 12th place after running a race of 26:51.90 at the USF Invitational, had a 22nd place finish at the A-Sun Championships with a personal-best time of 26:20.08 and ran a personal-best 10k time of 33:53.23 at the NCAA South Regional Championships and finished 119th.

In his junior year, Cruz competed in six races. He finished in a season-best 7th place in 16:03.0 at the FAU Invitational, crossed the finish line 21st overall in 26:49.39 at the Mountain Dew Invitational, improved his time by nearly 40 seconds as he crossed 14th in a personal-best time of 26:11.31 at the Upstate Invitational, placed 18th in 27:17.72 at the USF Invitational, wrapped up the season with a 27th place finish in 26:49.56 at the A-SUN Championships and a 144th place finish at the NCAA South Regional.

With the clock coming to a close, Cruz will give all his got to make his statement known.


The last of four seniors is Troy Clark.

At 6-0 and hailing from Mount Dora, Florida, Clark shows he is ready for any challenge.

In his freshman year, Clark competed in all six races. Clark placed 5th at the Stetson Hatter Invitational with a time of 27:00.28, finished 7th place with a time of 26:16.71 at the South Florida Invitational, finished 20th at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational with a time of 25:32.84, placed 130th at the Greater Louisville Classic with a time of 25:49.51, finished 12th place with a time of 25:53.49 at the FSU Seminole Invitational and finished a team-best 13th at the Atlantic Sun Championship.

In his sophomore year, Clark competed in all six races and paced the Eagles on three occasions while also turning in the team’s first- and fourth-best times. He recorded times in both the 8k and 10k that appear in the program’s all-time record book for the second consecutive year. Clark finished 6th at the UNF Invitational with a time of 26:04.94, ran a time of 26:42.17 and finished 29th at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational, crossed the finish line 27th overall at the Upstate Invitational with a time of 27:16.62, finished in a season-best 2nd place at the USF Invitational after running a race of 25:50.60, which was fourth best on the team, got a 10th place finish at the A-Sun Championships in a personal-best time of 25:32.31 and turned in FGCU’s fourth-best NCAA South Regional Championship performance as he crossed the finish line 57th overall with a 10k time of 32:29.86, which was the seventh best time in program history. Clark did so phenomenal that he earned A-SUN All-Conference Honors and was named to the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Academic Team.

In his junior was his moment in time. Named as team captain, Clark competed in six races where he turned in FGCU’s 2nd best 5k time and 3rd best 10k time. Clark finished in a season-best 3rd place with a time of 15:42.7 at the FAU Invitational, crossed the finish line in 26:35.58 and finished 18th at the Mountain Dew Invitational, had back-to-back 10th place finishes at the Upstate Invitational and USF Invitational, which his time of 25:58.66 at the Upstate Invitational was a season best while he crossed the finish line in 26:35.79 at USF. Clark placed 23rd in a time of 26:18.41 at the A-SUN Championships and capped off the season with by finishing 92nd in 32:54.6 at the NCAA South Regional.

In the end, Clark earned A-SUN  All-Academic Team honors for the second straight year.

For Clark, his hard work will pay off with many benefits in the end.

Rounding the bend behind the seniors are three juniors from both teams: Jessica Hanley and Carley Lutzow for the women and Maximilian Weigand for the men.


The first of three juniors is Jessica Hanley.

At 5-3 and hailing from Valico, Florida, Hanley comes in favor originally as a walk-on.

In her sophomore year, Hanley joined and competed in four races. She finished 78th and clocked a time of 21:01.89 in her first collegiate race at the Mountain Dew Invitational, crossed 54th in 21:13.60 at the Upstate Invitational, capped off the regular season in 56th with a time of 21:05.74 at the USF Invitational and ran a season-best time of 20:45.96 and finished 50th at the A-SUN Championships.

For Hanley, she will give it all she's got to make her mark for FGCU.


The next one and is personally one of my favorite runners is Carley Lutzow.

At 5-2 and coming from Belvidere, Illinois, Lutzow is here to represent the Great Lakes with passion.

In her freshman year, Lutzow ran in four of six races. She finished in a season-best 13th and third among FGCU runners at the UNF Invitational in a time of 19:06.30, ran a personal-best time of 19:02.96 and finished 34th at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational, crossed the finish line 23rd with a time of 19:26.94 at the Upstate Invitational and clocked a time of 19:04.47 at the A-SUN Championships and finished 28th.

In her sophomore year, Lutzow paced three of her six races where she turned in the team’s top two times in the 5k and best time in the 6k. Lutzow finished in a season-best 3rd place in a time of 19:10.3 at the FAU Invitational, crossed 25th in 11:18.18 at the UNF Invitational, placed 44th with a time of 19:34.85 at the Mountain Dew Invitational, clocked a personal-best time of 18:20.72 and finished 8th overall at the Upstate Invitational, which registered 2nd among FGCU sophomore runners in program history, finished 1st among FGCU runners and 16th overall in 18:31.50 at the A-SUN Championships, which ranked 5th among sophomore runners in program history and crossed the finish line 109th in a time of 22:29.6 at the NCAA South Regional.

For Lutzow, this Great Lakes girl will she's more ready than ever this season.


Last of the juniors is Maximilian Weigand.

At 6-1 and hailing from Penzberg, Germany, Weigand is here to make his mark for his junior year.

In his freshman year, Weigand raced in two meets where he finished 43rd at the Upstate Invitational with a time of 28:17.24 and turned in a season-best performance as he finished 34th at the USF Invitational after running a race of 27:46.90.

In his sophomore year, Weigand was the lone runner to compete in all seven races this season and was the team’s most improved runner from a year ago. He finished 8th at the FAU Invitational with a time of 16:06.1, a personal-best 3rd place finish in 15:54.66 at the UNF Invitational, finished 42nd overall with a time of 28:07.33 at the Mountain Dew Invitational, improved his time by more than two minutes as he clocked a personal-best time of 25:51.50 and finished 6th at the Upstate Invitational, which was ranked 3rd all-time among FGCU sophomores, placed 20th at the USF Invitational in 27:31.76, finished 4th among FGCU runners and 22nd overall after crossing the finish line in 26:15.79 at the A-SUN Championships and capped off the season by finishing 128th with a time of 33:47.0 at the NCAA South Regional.

As a result, Weigand earned A-SUN All-Academic Team honors in his first year of eligibility and there's no doubt in my mind that he will continue his strong success for this season.


FGCU managed to snag a transfer to join the women's team and it happens to be Angela Cruz Gonzalez.

At 5-1 and hailing from Immokalee, Florida, Gonzalez is here to make her presence in the big leagues and it runs in her blood thanks to coach Cruz.

Prior to FGCU, Gonzalez started her first two years at Pasco-Hernando State College of FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8.

In her freshman year at PHSC, Gonzalez opened her collegiate career with a 58th place finish at the Tampa Early Bird Classic (22:09.20), finished in a season-best 37th place at the flrunners.com Invitational (22:10.38) and improved her time by more than one minute at the Disney Cross Country Classic (21:08.42).

In her sophomore year, Gonzalez began the season at the Tampa Cross Country Classic and turned in a 3K time of 12:16.00, finished 65th at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational (20:45.98), placed in a season-best eighth at the SFSC Panther Invitational (21:49.00), returned to the Disney Cross Country Classic and crossed the finish line in 83rd in a season-best 20:18.80 and placed in the top-100 at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships with a personal-best time of 19:59.31. Because of her hard work, Gonzalez was named the Most Outstanding Cross Country Runner and earned All-American honors.

Gonzalez will be listed as a junior and will have two years of eligibility remaining, and I have no doubt in my mind that she will know that she's ready.

Sadly, there are no sophomores on the women's team, but the men's team have two: Carlin Berryhill and Jan Figueroa.


The first is Carlin Berryhill.

At 5-10 and hailing from Miami, Florida, Berryhill comes with a passion to make it big.

In his freshman year, Berryhill competed in five races. He turned in the Eagles’ 3rd best time in the 5k, 5th best time in the 8k and 2nd best time in the 10k. Berryhill began his collegiate career with back-to-back 4th place finishes at the FAU Invitational and UNF Invitational. Despite missing a pair of races with an injury, Berryhill returned to finished 16th in 26:52.84 at the USF Invitational, finished 3rd among FGCU runners and 13th overall in a personal-best time of 25:41.90 at the A-SUN Championships, which was 3rd best among freshman runners in program history and matched the best finish by a freshman at the conference championships and capped off the season as he finished 2nd among FGCU runners and 83rd overall in 32:45.5 at the NCAA South Regional. It was the best ever finish by a freshman at the championships as he helped FGCU place four runners in the top-100 for the first time in program history. Berryhill did so well that he earned A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Freshman Team honors. He became the second freshman in program history to win A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Freshman Team honors.

For his second stint, Berryhill will show that he is ready for a challenge.


The other sophomore on the team is Jan Figueroa.

At 5-8 and hailing from Casselberry, Florida, Figueroa is ready to make his mark for his second year.

In his freshman year, Figueroa competed in five races. He started his career off with a 12th place finish in a time of 16:34.1 at the FAU Invitational, then followed it up with a 14th place finish in 16:30.26 at the UNF Invitational, placed 34th in 27:47.56 at the Mountain Dew Invitational, improved his time by nearly 30 seconds as he crossed the finish line in a personal-best time of 27:19.21 and finished 31st at the Upstate Invitational and concluded his season at the A-SUN Championships as he finished 40th in 27:23.13.

For Figueroa, there is no doubt he will give it all he's got.

Now we get to the cream of the crop: the freshman. There are four freshman make their names for both teams: Devin Molloy and Madeline Wyers for the women and Cole Pruim and Joseph Salerno for the men.


The first is Devin Molloy.

At 5-4 and a local from Naples, Florida, Molloy comes to get her foot in the door.

Prior to FGCU, Molloy graduated from Barron Collier High School. There, she earned FHSAA All-State honors two straight years (2013, 2014), finished runner-up at the 2013 FHSAA 3A District 12 meet (18:32.43), fourth at the 3A Region race (19:26.20) and 11th at the Cross Country State Finals (18:55.44). Molloy followed it by winning the 2014 FHSAA 3A District 12 Championship (18:21.22) while finishing third at the regional race (19:53.30) and ninth at the state championship (18:56.50).

With her experience locally, Molloy will prove she's ready for the big leagues.


The other freshman joining on the women's team is Madeline Wyers.

At 5-10 and coming from Wakeman, Ohio, Wyers came into play late, but ready to go.

Prior to FGCU, Wyers went to Western Reserve High School where she was captain of her high school's varsity track and field team.

With her experience from the great lakes, Wyers will make her statements known that she is ready.


The first of two freshman on the men's is Cole Pruim.

At 5-11 and hailing from Winter Garden, Florida, Pruim is here to get his foot in the door with the men's team.

Prior to FGCU, Pruim ran for Ocoee High School while attending Legacy High School. He was a two-time FHSAA State Qualifier and placed 11th as a senior and 31st as a junior, won the 2015 FHSAA 4A District 3 Champion after running a personal-record 5K time of 15:54.5, finished runner up in the District Championship as a senior, ran to a fourth-place finish at the FHSAA 4A Region 1 Championships with a season-best time of 16:02.8, placed ninth in the event as a junior and was named to the All-Area Cross Country team.

Like Molloy, Pruim is also gonna show that he's ready for the big leagues.


The last freshman is Joseph Salerno.

At 5-7 and hailing from Wesley Chapel, Florida, Salerno is here to make a statement for his first year

Prior to FGCU, Salerno attended Wiregrass Ranch High School and competed for coach Christopher Loth. He was a two-time Sunshine Athletic Conference First Team All-Conference honoree, a two-time FHSAA 4A Individual State Qualifier, a three-time Wiregrass Ranch team MVP, finished runner up in the 3200 meter at the Sunshine Athletic Conference Track & Field East Championships in 2016 and 2017 and an individual qualifier in the 3200m at the 2017 FSU Relays.

For Salerno, he is ready and hungry for the competition that awaits him.

Like the swimming and diving team and men's and women's golf teams, no one really pays attention to cross country, but the runners work hard every day and gracious to participate to make it to the top even if they do not have any meets at home.

If you get a chance to meet a cross country and see how much hard work they put in to finish in every meet, you'd be surprised on how well they do.

PC: FGCUathletics.com

FGCU Men's Soccer Bios

With a new slate to the season, the FGCU men's soccer team prepares for a tougher schedule than last season with tougher teams that have not played or haven't played in a long time.

Last season, the Eagles were 14-4-3 overall with a 4-1-1 record in conference. They made it to the conference championship as the No. 2 seed and beat No. 5 JU 3-2 to win an automatic bid in the national tournament for the first time since 2014. In the first round, FGCU tied USF 2-2 in double overtime, but advanced to the second round after winning 3-0 in penalty kicks before falling in the second round 2-3 against UNC.

During the season, the Eagles were starting to reach national publicity. After beating FAU, FGCU were starting to receive votes for ranking. After their victory over Rutgers, the Eagles were ranked No. 15 in the nation in the top 25. It soon went No. 12 after beating FIU and USF and then after beating Stetson, FGCU rose to No. 11. After losing to UNF, their ranking dropped to No. 15 and then No. 20, but after the conference tournament, they sprung to No. 18 before finishing the season at No. 20.

Currently, FGCU is ranked #23 in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll.

The Eagles did lose three players as seniors: goalkeeper Jack Blatchford III, defender Santiago "Santi" Ortiz and midfielder Justin Gavin. Blatchford was a graduate student from Bentley University.

FGCU also lost sophomore Dante Longo, senior Rielee Mohsin, and junior Sawyer Jackman.

Longo has transferred to NCAA DII California State University-San Marcos.

Mohsin is now playing for the Palm Beach Suns FC.

Jackman quit towards the end of the season.

Not only did FGCU lose three players, but they lost the whole coaching staff.

Head coach Bob Butehorn, who coached FGCU for 10 seasons, is now head coach for USF along with his assistant coaches, Joe Dincecco and Henry Apaloo.

So it looked like FGCU was gonna be a ship without a captain, but that suddenly changed.


The team is now led by new head coach, Jesse Cormier.

Cormier will be entering his first season as head coach for FGCU.

Prior to FGCU and his coach career, Cormier played collegiately for the University of Vermont. There, in all four years (1991-94), he was ranked 6th in career points (59) and is tied for 6th all-time in goals (24). He even earned a spot on the America East All-Championship Team as a sophomore. Cormier led Vermont to the conference title game while leading the team in scoring as a senior with 21 points off nine goals and three assists. Following the season, he earned All-New England honors and was selected as the team’s Most Valuable Player.

After graduating from Vermont, Cormier started his coaching career at Oregon State as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He helped transform the program into a national power with outstanding coaching and recruiting.

After serving three seasons for the Beavers, Cormier became head coach for his alma mater Vermont. In 13 seasons at Vermont, Cormier was 114-89-47 overall with a 45-33-20 record in the America East Conference.

I met Cormier in his office during the 2017 spring semester. At the time, I was super nervous to meet him, but from what I heard is that he loves the Dirty Birds and what we do, so he was really cool to talk to.

For coach Cormier, I look forward to seeing the incredible journey for his first season as head coach for FGCU.

Of course, Cormier won't be alone and will have plenty of backup with assistant coaches, Sheldon Cipriani, Ryan Johnson and Tomas Cerda.


The first of three assistant coaches is Sheldon Cipriani.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Cipriani rejoins with FGCU after three years when he was a volunteer assistant coach in 2014. While at FGCU, he served as USF’s Director of Satellite Camps from 2010-12.

Cipriani was a alumnus of Coker College of NCAA DII's South Atlantic Conference.

Cipriani has served as a head and assistant coach in the Premier Development League – the top men’s amateur soccer organization in the United States and was the head coach of VSI Tampa in 2013 and has had stints as an assistant coach with the Ocala Stampede.

For coach Cipriani, I know he will have a great year as part of the coaching staff.


You need a coach who has a lot of playing experience from a professional level and Ryan Johnson is the best choice.

A native of Jamaica, Johnson has plenty of playing experience to bring to the table for his first season as an assistant coach for FGCU.

Prior to FGCU and his coaching career, Johnson played and started his collegiate soccer career at Oregon State University from 2002-05 in which he had a career total 18 goals and 30 assists.

After finishing with the Beavers, Johnson declared to play professional soccer in the MLS and his wish came true. Johnson was drafted as the 26th overall pick in the third round by Real Salt Lake in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. During the 2006 season, he was traded to Chicago Fire.

At the end of the 2006 season, Johnson went overseas and signed with Swedish football club, Östers IFin, for a year before signing a three year deal with the San Jose Earthquakes from 2008-11.

A year later, Johnson signed with Toronto FC from 2011-12 followed by a one year deal with the Portland Timbers in 2013 before going overseas again and playing in China and South Korea before playing one more season with Rayo OKC of the  North American Soccer League (NASL).

During the time in the MLS, Johnson played for the Jamaican National Team for seven years. He made his debut in an international friendly in 2006, scored his first national team goal in 2010 against world power Argentina, continued his strong play throughout 2010 and 2011, securing the game-winning goal versus Costa Rica and winning the Caribbean Cup with Jamaica.

He also played in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which he was the team’s second-leading scorer, as well as participating in nine 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for Jamaica, including scoring a goal against Guatemala.

Johnson started all four matches of the 2012 Canadian Championship, leading Toronto FC to a fourth-straight Voyager’s Cup and, in the process, was awarded the George Gross Memorial Trophy as the championship’s best player.

The interesting thing is Johnson will reunite with Cormier, who was associate head coach for Oregon State during Johnson's freshman and sophomore year.

With his playing experience from a professional level, Johnson will show his true skills as a coach for the team.


Last, but never least on the coaching is Tomas Cerda.

Cerda, a native of Orlando, has been with FGCU since 2011 as a volunteer assistant coach, so you could jokingly say he's been at FGCU forever.

Prior to coaching, Cerda played for FGCU as a goalkeeper from 2011-13 before becoming an volunteer assistant coach.

Cerda has worked with many great goalkeepers at FGCU for men's and women's soccer including Nathan Ingham and Brittany Brown.

With his experience behind the lines with FGCU, Cerda is a top coach to keep in the long run.

On this season's team, it consists of nine seniors, four juniors, five transfers (four sophomores and one redshirt freshman), five true sophomores and seven freshman (three redshirts).

Position wise, there are four goalkeepers, six forwards, nine defenders and 11 midfielders

The nine seniors have been a great factor for the team: Eli Roubos (D), Nicolas Samayoa (D), Jiro Barriga Toyama (MF), Robert Ferrer (MF), Miguel Jaime (MF), Caleb George (D), Dylan Sacramento (MF), Kamar Marriott (MF) and Albert Ruiz (F).


The first of the nine seniors is Eli Roubos.

The 6-2 defender from Toronto, Ontario, Canada has come a long way to help FGCU.

Prior to FGCU, Roubos started his freshman year at Oregon State University, starting four of his seven games played before transferring to FGCU.

In his sophomore year, Roubos started 12 of his 13 games played and helped anchor a defensive unit that paced the A-Sun in goals allowed (13 – nine fewer than any other team), goals-against average (0.88 – 0.45 better than any other team) and shutouts (seven – two more than any other team) and helped lead FGCU to an unprecedented sixth-straight A-SUN regular-season championship with a league record of 4-0-1 while logging 1,162 minutes.

His junior year was his time to shine. Starting seven of his 11 games played, despite battling injuries, Roubos had three goals, two assists and eight points in 761 minutes. His moment to shine was in the A-Sun Championship game against JU. Roubos scored the game-winning goal to send FGCU to the national tournament.

Because of his successful junior year, Roubos was an A-SUN Second Team selection and was named a member of the A-SUN All-Tournament Team.

For his senior year, Roubos will no doubt keep the defense in line.


One of Guatemala's best defenders to talk about next is Nicolas "Nico" Samayoa.

The 6-2 defender from Guatemala City, Guatemala has been one of the key anchors in defense for FGCU.

In his freshman year, Samayoa proved to be a crucial member of FGCU’s league-leading defense as a central defender. He started all 19 games and in 1,808 minutes, he had one goal, one assist and three points. Like Roubos, Samayoa helped lead FGCU to an unprecedented sixth-straight A-SUN regular-season championship with a league record of 4-0-1.

In his sophomore year, Samayoa started all 12 of the games, logging in 1,115 minutes with, once again, one goal, one assist and three points.

He did so well that he was named on the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team.

Samayoa's junior year was his time to shine as well. He was still a vital member of FGCU’s backline which allowed just six goals in A-SUN action. Starting 19 of his 20 games played, he logged the 3rd-most minutes on the team with 1,628 with once again, one goal, one assist and three points. Because of his strong defense as a defender, Nico was named a member on the A-SUN First Team.

With his strong defense, Samayoa is gonna keep the defense in line against all of his opponents.


If you're looking for a player with the best fancy footwork, then keep an eye out for Jiro Barriga Toyama.

The 5-9 midfielder from Chiba, Japan is known for the best footwork on the field.

Prior to FGCU, Toyama started his first two years at Barton Community College of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) in NJCAA Region 6. Although suffering an injury in his sophomore year, Toyama played a total of 25 games combined with seven goals, 10 assists and 24 points in both years.

Toyama transferred to FGCU his junior year and was a force to be reckoned with. Starting 17 of his 20 games played, Toyama had two goals, three assists and seven points while logging in 1,091 minutes. His top moment was in the home game against Stetson where he deftly dribbled around two players along the goal line.

For Toyama and his fancy footwork, There is no doubt he will light the fire for the team.


At first, I thought Robert Ferrer was Nico's twin because they looked similar, but that doesn't stop his hard fought fight.

The 5-10 midfielder from Barcelona, Spain shows he is one of the top contenders for FGCU.

Prior to FGCU, Ferrer started his collegiate soccer career at NCAA DIII Brevard College of the USA South Athletic Conference. There, in his freshman year, he appeared in 16 games with 14 starts, two goals and two assists.

By sophomore year, he transferred to FGCU. He started three of his 14 games played and logged 591 minutes.

In his junior year, he was the only Eagle to start all 21 games played. He had three goals, four assists and 10 points in 1,667 minutes.

For his senior year, Ferrer will give it all he's got.


If you want a player who is strong like the Rocky Mountains, then you're looking for Miguel "Miggy" Jaime.

The 5-7 midfielder from Denver has that strength like the mountains.

In his freshman year, Jaime started 12 of his 17 games played with one assist and one point while logging in 941 minutes. As a result of his hard work, he was named on the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.

In his sophomore year, Jaime started 11 of the 12 games he played in and had two goals, two assists and six points while logging in 719 minutes. Jaime was so phenomenal, he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Academic Team.

In his junior year, Jaime started 16 of his 21 games and had two goals, three assists and seven points while logging in 1,083 minutes. He did so well that during the conference tournament, Jaime was named on the A-SUN All-Tournament Team and was a A-SUN All-Academic Team member again. He was the second FGCU player in program history to be named to the A-SUN All-Academic Team twice.

For Jaime's senior year, he will show the A-SUN what this Colorado boy can do.


Coming to help a strong defense, Caleb George knows his way around.

The 6-1 defender from Tampa provides strength to help Ferrer, Samayoa and Roubos.

Although he only played one in his freshman and sophomore year logging in 22 minutes combined, his junior year was his moment. Starting nine of his 15 games played, George became an important defender. He had one assist and one point while logging in 1,019 minutes.

With his strong defense, George will show how stronger he is than anyone can imagine.


If you want another soccer player who represents Canada with style, then you better watch out for Dylan "Saca" Sacramento.

The 5-7 midfielder from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is one of Canada's best midfielders.

Prior to FGCU, Saca spent his freshman year at York University of the Ontario University Athletics Association (OUAA). There, he started six games and finished fourth on the team with four goals.

When Saca transferred to FGCU, he received a medical redshirt his sophomore and was able to maintain his three years of remaining eligibility.

In his redshirt sophomore year, Saca went on a tear. Starting three of his 10 games played, he provided a good spark off the bench with six goals, one assist and 13 points while logging in 439 minutes. Because of his success, he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team. During the game against Lipscomb at home, Saca made a abbreviated bicycle kick that earned him the No. 7 spot on ESPN Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays.

In his redshirt junior year, despite missing eight games due to an injury, Saca started 10 of his 13 games and had four goals, three assists and 11 points while logging in 736 minutes. Saca was so successful that year, he was named an A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member for the second time and a member of the NSCAA All-Southeast Region Third Team.

For Saca, he will show what one of Canada's best soccer players is all about with soccer.


This guy looks more like a basketball player than a soccer player, but if you say that to Kamar Marriott, then you will be in for a surprise.

The 6-4 midfielder from Tampa (Yes, I said 6-4) gives quite a height advantage for the team.

In his freshman year, Marriott started five of his 16 games played and had one goal and two points while logging in 804 minutes.

In his sophomore year, Marriott started six of his 13 games with four assists and four points while logging in 657 minutes.

It was his junior year that shined the most. Starting 20 of his 21 games played, Marriott had one goal, two assists and four points while logging in 1,798 minutes. He did so well for his junior year, he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team, a member of the NSCAA All-Southeast Region Second Team and a member of the A-SUN All-Tournament Team.

With the height he possess, Marriott will no doubt use it to his advantage.


The last member of the senior class, and one of my personal favorite players, is Albert Ruiz.

The 6-2 forward from Barcelona, Spain has been the anchor of scoring for FGCU and it shows.

In his freshman year, Ruiz started 15 of his 20 games played with one goal and two points while logging in 947 minutes. He did so well that was named on the A-SUN All-Freshman Team (w/Jaime).

By sophomore year, he got better. Starting 10 of his 11 games played, Ruiz had seven goals, two assists and 16 points while logging in 639 minutes. During the season, he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and A-SUN All-Tournament Team.

Ruiz's junior year was, by far, the strongest performance he had. Starting all 20 games played, Ruiz went on a tear, not just for the team and in the conference, but in the nation. He had 22 goals, five assists and 49 points while logging in 1,355 minutes. His 22 goals were not just the most on the team and in the A-SUN, but in the nation. It did not stop there though. He was so phenomenal that he was named A-SUN Player of the Year, a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and the A-Sun All-Tournament Team in which he was also named A-SUN Tournament MVP. His success did not stop there either. Ruiz was tabbed as a NSCAA First Team All-American and a member of the NSCAA All-Southeast Region First Team, but what really set the toll for him was being named one of three MAC Hermann Trophy Finalists. Although he did not win, just being one of the finalists and representing FGCU for the MAC Hermann Trophy was well worth it. In fact, during the game against Rutgers University in Rutgers, Ruiz broke an NCAA record for supposedly recording the fastest hat trick in NCAA DI history at 9:02, a 44 year record that was set in 1973 by Indiana University's Steve Burks.

In the first round game of the national tournament against USF, Ruiz scored the game-winning penalty shot to help advance FGCU to the second round.

For Ruiz and his senior year, this is the thrill of a lifetime for him to take the soccer nation by storm.

Joining the junior class are these four top players: Dennis Zapata (MF), Preston Kilwien (D), Jordan Lue (D) and Arion Sobers-Assue (F).

The first of four juniors is Dennis Zapata.

The 5-8 midfielder from Miami, Florida has energy that can outlast Usain Bolt.

In his freshman year, Zapata, as more of a defender, started 12 of his 13 games with one assist and one point while logging in 748 minutes. he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team as a result of his hard work.

In his sophomore year, Zapata started 13 of his 20 games with three goals, five assists and 11 points while logging in 1,198 minutes.

With his strong defense as a midfielder, Zapata will give it all he's got.


Joining the defensive fray with Roubos, Samayoa, Ferrer and George is Preston Kilwien.

The 6-4 defender from San Francisco, like Marriott, bring a good height advantage.

In his freshman year, Kilwien started two of his seven games played with one goal and two points while logging in 372 minutes. He did so well as a defender, he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team, but what set the bar for him was, like Sacramento, he made No. 3 on ESPN Sportscenter's Top 10 plays for his 35 yard goal against Princeton at home.

In his sophomore year, Kilwien was more defense ready and provided excellent sparks off the bench. Starting nine of his 20 games, Kilwien had four assists and four points while logging in 1,118 minutes. Two of his assists were during the conference tournament championship game against JU to help advance FGCU to the national tournament.

With his strong defense and phenomenal assist rate, Kilwien will give all he's got for this season.



A strong defender who makes great impact is Jordan Lue.

The 6-2 defender from Tampa also comes across with strong defense.

Prior to FGCU, Lue spent his freshman year at UCF where he utilized a redshirt.

Lue transferred to FGCU as a redshirt freshman playing in two games and logging in 21 minutes.

In his redshirt sophomore year, Lue got more playing time. Starting nine of his 11 games, Lue had one assist and one point while logging in 796 minutes.

For Lue, he will continue to provide plenty of sparks on defense.


The last of the four juniors is Arion Sobers-Assue.

The 6-0 forward from Miami, Florida was a dominant force for FGCU with Ruiz.

In his freshman year, Sobers-Assue started five of his 15 games with one goal, one assist and three points while logging in 613 minutes.

During his sophomore year, Sobers-Assue utilized a medical redshirt, but in his redshirt sophomore year, he became an instant spark in the starting rotation. Starting in 15 of his 20 games played, Sobers-Assue had 11 goals, 11 assists and 33 points while logging in 1,255 minutes. Sobers-Assue's 11 assists were tied for 5th best in the nation along with his assist per game (.55) as 5th in the nation. He was so good, that he was named on the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and the NSCAA All-Southeast Region Third Team with Sacramento.

With his strong ability, Arion will show what he's got in the A-SUN.

FGCU managed to pick up five transfers to join: Andres Brealey (MF-Freed-Hardeman University), Tom Denat (MF-William Penn University), Javi Navas (D-Carroll College), Lucas Bueno (F-Tulsa) and Connor Gavigan (GK-Creighton).



The first transfer is Andres Brealey.

The 5-10 midfielder from San Jose, Costa Rica comes to FGCU as a sophomore.

Prior to FGCU, Brealey started his collegiate soccer career at NAIA Freed-Hardeman University (Tennessee) of the American Midwest Conference (AMC). There he played in 12 games with four goals, one assist and nine points.

He will be with FGCU with three years of eligibility remaining, but I know he will be a great part of the FGCU family.


Joining FGCU next is Tom Denat.

The 5-10 midfielder from Toulouse, France joins one of our fellow Frenchmen, Thomas Delplace as a sophomore.

Prior to FGCU, Denat started his collegiate soccer career at NAIA William Penn University of the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC). There, Denat played in 16 games wit 15 starts and finished with one goal, four assists and six points.

Denat will have three years of eligibility remaining and show the world what he's got.


Joining Samaoya as Guatemala's greatest players is Javi Navas.

The 6-0 defender from Guatemala City, Guatemala joins FGCU as a sophomore for the team.

Prior to FGCU, Navas spent his freshman year at NAIA Carroll College of the Frontier Conference. There, he started four his 17 games played with one goal, one assist and three points. For his defense, Navas helped protect the goalkeeping unit, which posted a 1.43 goals against average and four clean sheets.

Navas will have three years of eligibility remaining and I'm looking forward to what he's got for FGCU.


Joining FGCU from a different DI university is Lucas Bueno.

the 6-0 forward from The Hague, Netherlands via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil comes to FGCU, like Brealey, Denat and Navas, as a sophomore.

Prior to FGCU, Bueno started his collegiate soccer career at Tulsa University of the AAC. He played two games and logged in 25 minutes with one goal.

Bueno will have three years of eligibility remaining and see the true passion he shows.


The last transfer on the team is Connor Gavigan.

The 6-0 goalkeeper from Aurora, Colorado comes to FGCU listed as a redshirt freshman.

Prior to FGCU, Gavigan spent his freshman year at Creighton University of the Big East Conference and utilized a redshirt for the year.

Gavigan will have all four years of eligibility remaining and I'm looking forward to see another Colorado Rocky strong player.

The five true sophomores come strongly into play: Jared Brown (GK), Jahan Rajaee (MF), Shak Adams (F), Miguel Perez (MF) and Fernando Ramirez (F).



The first of the five sophomores is Jared Brown.

The 6-0 goalkeeper from Aurora, Ontrio, Canada came to me as a surprise as a goalkeeper.

In his freshman year, Brown was originally a backup goalie for Jackman, but soon Brown stepped up.

Starting all 10 games he played, Brown posted 5-3-2 overall record as he logged 963 minutes with 34 saves while allowing 16 goals. Since that transition to starter, he was named a member of the A-Sun All-Freshman Team.

With his new experience as starting goalkeeper, I have no doubt in my mind that Brown give it all he's got.


Next is Jahan Rajaee.

The 6-0 midfielder from Gainsville, Florida is the Modern Day Maharaja for FGCU men's soccer.

In his freshman year, Rajaee appeared in six games with one assist and one point while logging in 68 minutes.

For Rajaee, he will get more playing than anyone can imagine.



If you want a player who has speed like Speedy Gonzalez, then you better look out for Shak Adams.

The 5-6 forward from Antioch, Tennessee has the speed to show his capability.

In his freshman year, Adams had one start of his 21 games played with four goals, eight points while logging in 682 minutes. He did so well that he was named a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.

With his speed on the front line, Adams is show it all on the field.


A guy who can offense as much as defense is Miguel Perez.

The 5-11 midfielder from Weston, Florida comes with one goal (no pun intended): winning.

In his freshman year, Perez started four of his 21 games played. He had two goals, three assists, seven points while logging in 998 minutes.

Because of his hard work, Perez was named to the A-SUN All-Freshman Team with Brown and Adams.

With his hard work, Perez will give it all he's got to make the magic


Lastly on the team is Fernando Ramirez.

The 6-4 forward from Caracas, Venezuela returns as a redshirt sophomore.

He did not play his freshman year and redshirted to maintain all four years of eligibility and played one game as a redshirt freshman.

For Ramirez, he will comeback stronger than before this year.

You can't have a team without freshman to teach the ropes: TC Anderson (D), Gustavo Vasconcelos (GK), Thomas Delplace (D) Chris Clement (F), Kareem Riley (MF), Parker Holland (D) and Josh Morgan (GK).


The first is T.C. Anderson.

The 6-2 defender from Gainsville, Florida is listed as a redshirt freshman, but is here to make a statement.

Although he redshirted to maintain all four years of eligibility, just like Ramirez, he will make his presence known.



Fighting his way to start his mark is Gustavo Vasconcelos

The 6-3 goalkeeper from Recife, Brazil is also listed as a redshirt freshman, but will fight his way to play.

He redshirted to maintain all four years of eligibility and like Anderson, he will make people aware who he is.


Coming back to make a statement and joining his fellow French teammate Denat is Thomas DelPlace.

A 6-1 defender from Toulouse, France, DelPlace, listed as a redshirt freshman, is making a comeback for FGCU.

In his freshman year, DelPlace started all six games he played and logged in 378 minutes before being sidelined with a broken leg that had him miss the rest of the season. He was still able to maintain all four years of eligibility.

After a hard fought rehab, DelPlace will be ready to make his mark.


Joining the team is a player who I'm very confused on what his background is fully and that is Chris Clement.

The 5-8 defender from Mallorca, Spain is American, French and Spanish and I don't know which one to dub him as, even if he was born in Spain.

Prior To FGCU, Clement trained in the RCD Mallorca Academy for eight years and most recently played in the Spanish 3rd Division for Playas de Calvia and Poblense.

With his experience and unique background, Clement is no doubt gonna make his mark.



Joining FGCU with championship experience as well as international experience is Kareem Riley

The 6-3 mifielder from Couva, Trinidad and Tobago comes to you with a Caribbean style of play.

Prior to FGCU, Riley competed with the U-20 Trinidad and Tobago National Team and had a fixture with the U-17 Trinidad and Tobago squad in World Cup qualifer. He was noticed as one of the top youth players in the nation and a top student-athlete at Presentation College-San Fernando and represented his Central FC club team.

With his international and championship experience, Riley will definitely bring fire to the team.


Coming to FGCU next is Parker Holland.

The 6-0 defender from Winter Gardens, Florida is here to make his mark for Florida.

Prior to FGCU, Holland played and graduated from West Orange High School under head coach Scott Fisher. There, Holland helped lead his team to the state final 4 as a senior and state finalist as a junior and was a member of the All-Metro Team in 2015-16.

With his passion, Holland will make his name known for FGCU.


The last member on the team that comes to us from the west coast is Josh Morgan.

The 6-2 goalkeeper from Atherton, California hoping to make a statement from the west coast.

Prior to FGCU, Morgan was a 4-year starter in the USSDA (U.S. Soccer Development Academy) where he was the #12 ranked player overall in Northern California/Hawaii by Top Drawer Soccer.

In addition, Morgan attended youth national team regional ID camps and participated in the Scopigno Cup in Rieti, Italy where he played against AS Roma U-17. He was also a part of the club team, De Anza Force Academy.

Currently, Morgan will redshirt for his freshman year, but I have no doubt he will be ready for the next season coming his way.

Meeting the new men's soccer players and seeing a lot of the returners on the team makes the world known that they are ready. Of course every win they get means they have a target on your back, but will it stop them? To me, I say no, but to the players, that's a question they must answer on their own.

PC: fgcuathletics.com