"Charlotte was deserving, they dictated the match," said head coach Jesse Cormier. "They're physical, competitive and know how to be successful at this level and at home. We fell into the trap of playing direct and struggled to find our identity as a team. We will learn to improve and be ready to get back after it against another NCAA level opponent in Presbyterian."
"I thought we played really, really well," said Charlotte head coach Kevin Langan. "We were knocking on the door all night long and had some great individual performances. I thought that our compactness as a team from front to back was better than it had been in the exhibition games. We are starting to come together nicely. The most pleasing thing was that we kept going and going. Their goalkeeper made countless great saves. We had a lot of near misses but our mindset to keep going was fantastic."
It was a busy night in net for redshirt sophomore keeper Gustavo Vasconcelos who faced a flurry of shots in the first half, as the Brazil native secured five saves in the first period as both teams headed into the intermission knotted at 0-0. Charlotte continued to pressure the Eagles in the second half and shortly after Vasconcelos recorded his 10th save of the evening, a cross in the box was headed in by Maclean Holbrook in the 87th minute for the game-winner.
The first save of the night for Vasconcelos arrived in the 25th tick to keep the first threat from the 49ers off the board. Just 10 minutes later, the Eagles would earn a pair of corner kicks but nothing would materialize. As the end of the first period loomed, Charlotte fired a span of three shots on frame, which all proved to be denied as both squads headed into the intermission in a deadlock 0-0 tie.
In the second period, the 49ers continued to dictate their play, while the FGCU offense saw its first shot of the night come off the foot of redshirt sophomore Noah Bushey in the 72nd.
"The defense did really well tonight," Langan said. "We know if we can keep clean sheets and limit our opponents to a few looks and be organized on set pieces then we just need one or two goals to win."
Vasconcelos added to the suspense grabbing his 10th save of the night in the 84th – the second-most saves in a single-season game (Glick-13 vs Campbell 07'), until the tie was broken three ticks later as a cross in the box was headed in by Holbrook for the game-winner.
The loss marks the first time since Sept. 3, 2017 (Central Connecticut State) in which the Eagles were shutout, also taking place on the road. FGCU will face a quick turnaround as it heads to Clinton, S.C. next to take on Presbyterian at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
On the side note, Bushey, senior Raheem Somersal, juniors Ivan Rosales and Ryan Medilah, sophomores Titouan Le Menec and Jomar Alvarez and freshmen O’Vonte Mullings and Ethan Dudley all made their Eagle debuts. Bushey (New Mexico), Somersal (Appalachian State), Rosales (NJCAA San Jancinto), Medilah (NJCAA San Jacinto/NJCAA Cloud County), Le Menec (NAIA Bluefield College) and Alvarez (UCF) came from different colleges and universities with Rosales and Medilah being JUCOs and Le Menec coming from NAIA.
Mullings joined FGCU from the FC Durham Academy while Dudley graduated from Bartram Trail High School.
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