FGCU W. Soc @ JU Recap

The FGCU Women's Soccer team (7-0-2, 1-0 A-SUN) put together a dominating performance in their A-SUN opener Friday night in Jacksonville, as they clobbered Jacksonville (0-8-1, 0-1 A-SUN) 6-0. With the win, the Eagles are now 7-2-6 overall against the Dolphins. In addition, head coach Jim Blakenship earned his 150th win with the Eagles Friday.

"That's a phenomenal way to start conference play" Blankenship said. "It's important to get off on the right foot and our kids took a great mentality into the game and set the tone early and then were relentless throughout. I am very proud of them."

For starting goalkeepers, Blakenship sent his usual starter to the box, junior Melissa Weck, while Jacksonville head coach Laura Kane sent senior Brittany Hundley to counter.

In the first half, not even 10 minutes in, the Eagles would get on the board first as one half of the A-SUN Legion of Doom, junior Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen, scored her fourth goal of the season with an assist from freshman Kara Kyramarios to make it 1-0 FGCU. This was Boilesen's 15th career goal and she is now two away from surpassing Gina Petracco (16) for seventh all-time in career goals.

In the 26th minute, the Eagles were on the attack again as sophomore Cassidy Morgan and junior Opal Curless played a long through ball to junior and the other half of the A-SUN Legion of Doom, junior Evdokia "Evi" Popadinova, found herself one on one with the keeper before whizzing one past her for her seventh goal of the season to put FGCU on top 2-0 before the end of the first half.

Early in the second half, it was the Hope Van Wagner show to begin. The sophomore cashed in her first chance of the night just over three minutes into the period on a silky smooth pass from Popadinova to make it 3-0. Van Wagner then launched a rocket from outside the box to the top 90 just moments later to make it a 4-0 game. These were her second and third goals of the season.

In the 73rd minute, the Eagles made a substitution as freshman Stephanie Starr came in for Weck. Starr was making her debut after graduating from Edward S. Marcus High School.

Going into the 75th minute, the Eagles drew a foul in the box on a free kick to earn a penalty kick. Senior Shay Jackson would be the one to take it for the Eagles as she tucked it into the corner of the net to put FGCU in front 5-0. This was Jackson's first goal of the season.

Jackson would end up getting a red card and was ejected for the final two minutes, which I thought was stupid because she got pushed down from a hard foul and the JU player should have got a red card not only for pushing her, but for not letting go of Jackson's foot in addition. Jackson will be suspended for the game against UNF.

The Eagles weren't done yet though. Just three minutes later, they got another chance on a corner from freshman Brianna Hatfield as she put it on the money, finding the head of the hometown girl, junior Lindsey Patton, for her first goal of the year to put the cherry on top of a 6-0 victory.

11 different Eagles were a part of the scoring on the night.

Van Wagner led FGCU with four points on her two goals, Popadinova had three points with a goal and an assist and Boilesen had two points with a goal.

Weck (7-0-2) made a pair of saves before giving way to Starr who had one in 16 minutes of work.

Starr would get a save for 16 minutes of play.

Hundley (0-8-1) gave up all six goals and had sight saves.

Junior Kristian Shores, who subbed in for Hundley, had one save in 10 minutes of play.

FGCU had a season high 25 shots in the win and also a season best 15 on goal.  JU managed just seven, with only three of those on net.

The Eagles earned nine corners on the night, taking advantage by netting a pair of goals off set pieces.

Talking about overall records, the Eagles went from one of 18 teams to one of nine teams without a loss this season. The nine teams that lost are listed and who they lost to:
1. #2 Florida State (8-1-1) lost to UNC
2. #4 Texas A&M (10-1) lost to Arkansas
3. #5 Virginia (7-1) lost to Clemson
4. #11 Tennessee (7-1-1) lost to South Carolina
5. #12 Northwestern (7-1-2) lost to Minnesota
6. #18 Kansas (7-1-2) lost to #4 Texas A&M
7. Mississippi State (8-1) lost to #9 Auburn
8. TCU (7-1-1) lost to Butler
9. UW-Milwaukee (7-1) lost to Marquette
*subject to change on Tuesday, Sept 25

Up Next:
The Eagles will return to action on Sunday in Jacksonville as they travel crosstown to take on North Florida (5-3-1) for conference play.