FGCU W, Soc @ JU, UNF Preview

The RV FGCU women's soccer team (6-0-2) are now preparing for A-SUN Conference play as they begin in Jacksonville at Southern Oak Stadium against JU (0-7-1) on Sept. 21 at 7 PM and at Hodges Stadium to face UNF (5-3-1) on Sept. 23 at 1 PM.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of a four-game road trip in three states where they finished 2-0-2. They began in Ohio, where they defeated Power 5 Conference member RV Ohio State 1-0 before ending up in a scoreless draw against Dayton. The Eagles traveled back to Florida and slaughtered FIU 5-1 before traveling to Chicago for 1-1 draw against Loyola Chicago.

A-SUN Legion of Doom:
Juniors Evdokia "Evi" Popadinova and Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen aka the A-SUN Legion of Doom are still among the top scorers for FGCU.

Currently, Popadinova leads the team in goals (6).

In the games against Ohio State, Popadinova scored the lone goal that gave FGCU the win. In the game against FIU, the Bulgarian native scored a goal as part of the 5-1 win.

Although she was struggling briefly, Boilesen is still make her mark offensively. The Sao Paulo native currently has three goals and two assists. Her third goal came in the game against FIU.

In addition, Boilesen's goal against FIU was her 14th career goal and she is now three away from passing Gina Petracco (16, 2008-11) for 7th all-time.

National Weck City Week:
Junior goalkeeper Melissa Weck (6-0-2) currently has four shutouts to her name as well as 32 saves. In the series in Ohio, Weck had six saves against Ohio State and one against Dayton, four saves against FIU and eight saves against Loyola Chicago.

Weck was recently named the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Week and the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week, the first FGCU player in program history to receive these accolades.

"I am proud of her and all she has done for us this year. She has been a difference maker in some big games," Jim Blankenship said on Weck winning the Top Drawer Soccer weekly accolade. "She is playing with a lot of confidence right now, this award is well deserved."

"Weck has put her heart and soul into this program and her hard work is paying off," Blankenship said on Weck winning the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week.  "Obviously earning this award says a lot about what she has done, but it is also big for the program. It takes a lot of people to make something like this happen."

(Holly)wood:
Along with the A-SUN Legion of Doom, senior midfielder Holly Fritz has also been on a hot start on her own. The Cape Coral native who transferred from Florida State last season is currently is second on team with five goals. Fritz scored her fifth goal of the season in the draw against Loyola Chicago.

Earlier this week, Fritz was named one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. The Senior CLASS Award is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. The award focuses on the total student-athlete, encouraging students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Candidates are compared using four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition.

"Holly has just about every good quality you can say about a person" said Blankenship. "She is extremely driven and self-motivated.  She wants to be the best at everything and is able to bring that quality out of her teammates as well so that they can do it together.  She is a perfectionist in every piece of her life.  She is a 4.0 student, makes sure every touch at practice is with a purpose, and is always in the right place on the field during games.  She is our team captain, our leader, the person that everyone goes to when they need something.  Despite having a fully loaded plate herself, she is quite accommodating in that role, always taking time to help a teammate whether that be on the field or off the field."

National Polls:
Last week, the Eagles received 37 votes in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll, and their RPI ranking is #44 in the nation, however because they tied in the game against Loyola Chicago, their vote count dropped from 37 to two, but they still have votes in the poll.

In addition, the Eagles went from #3 to #5 in the United Soccer Coaches South Region poll and from #16 to #25 in the Hero Sports poll.

Scouting JU:
The Dolphins are coming off finishing their most previous game against Charleston Southern falling 2-1 in overtime. Originally, the Dolphins were scheduled to play the Citadel this past Friday, but the game was cancelled due to the arrival Hurricane Florence.

Currently, the Dolphins sit dead last out of all the members of the A-SUN.

Offensively, the team as a whole have only scored five goals.

Senior Brittany Hundley (0-5-1) has given up 12 goals with 36 saves. In the overtime game against Charleston Southern, Hundley had six saves.

Overall, the Eagles are 6-2-6 against the Dolphins. Last season, the Eagles defeated the Dolphins 5-0 in Jacksonville.

The Dolphins last win against the Eagles was on Nov. 10, 2013 where the Dolphins defeated the Eagles 5-3 in penalty kicks in the A-SUN Conference Championship.

Scouting UNF:
The Ospreys ended their portion of non-conference with a 9-0 win over NAIA Webber International. Originally, their last game was supposed to be against Wofford College, however, just like JU, it was cancelled due to the arrival of Hurricane Florence.

Currently, UNF sits 5th overall in conference as they

Offensively, sophomore Thais Reiss and freshman Kendra Hoffman lead the way. Both have four goals each. In the game against Webber, Hoffman had two goals and an assist while Reiss had one goal and two assists.

In the box, redshirt sophomore Rhiannon Conelley (5-3) has given up eight goals and has 24 saves. Connelley has four shutouts this season including the 9-0 win against Webber.

The Eagles are 10-1-1 overall against the Ospreys. Last season, the Eagles defeated the Ospreys 3-0 at home. The Ospreys lone win was on Oct. 5, 2012 where they defeated the Eagles 2-0.

A-SUN Conference Standings so far:
1. FGCU 6-0-2
2. Kennesaw State 7-2-1
3. NJIT 6-2-1
4. North Florida 5-3-0
5. North Alabama 6-4-0
6. Lipscomb 5-3-2
7. Stetson 3-4-2
8. Liberty 1-7-0
9. Jacksonville 0-7-1

How to Keep Up: 
Both games will have livestats available.

The game against UNF will air livestream on their Facebook page.

Fans can also keep up with the teams on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_WSoccer

JU: @OspreyWSOC

UNF: @JAX_WSOC

Link to livestream vs UNF: https://www.facebook.com/northfloridaospreys

Links to livestats:
http://www.judolphins.com/sports/wsoc/2018-19/boxscores/20180921_bye1.xml

https://unfospreys.com/sidearmstats/wsoc