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.