FGCU W. Soc @ Ohio State, Dayton Preview

The FGCU women's soccer team (4-0) now prepare for a lengthy road trip as they travel to face their third and final Power 5 Conference team of the season, RV Ohio State (3-2), at the Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus on Friday, Sept 7 at 6 P.M. (ET)/ 5 P.M. (CT) and Dayton University (3-2)* at Baujan Field on Sunday, Sept 9 at 1 P.M. (ET)/12 P.M. (CT).

Last Time Out:
Despite dealing with too aggressive play and a lucky offside call that would have been a tie and went to possible overtime, the Eagles pulled off an amazing turnaround upset at home on Sunday as they pulled off a 3-2 win against Power 5 Conference member Michigan.

FGCU vs. Power 5:
So far this season, the Eagles have pulled off two big wins against Power 5 Conference teams. Along with the win against Michigan, the Eagles pulled off a big moment by defeating Alabama in Tuscaloosa by a score of 4-2. So far, FGCU is 10-20-1 overall against Power 5 Teams.

The teams that FGCU played are as listed:
FSU (ACC, L:4-0 2008)
Miami 6x (ACC), W: 2014 (2-1) 2016 (1-0), L: 2009 (3-0), 2010 (3-1), 2011 (2-1), 2015 (1-0)
Arkansas (SEC), W: 2010 (1-0)
Syracuse (ACC), L: 2011 (1-0)
Florida 5x (SEC), L: 2011 (5-0, 3-0*), 2012 (2-0*), 2013 (3-1), 2016 (3-0*)
Miss St. 2x (SEC), W: 2013 (2-1), 2015 (2-0)
Arizona 2x (PAC-12), W: 2014 (2-1), 2017 (1-0)
Arizona St. (PAC-12), L: 2017 (2-1)
Auburn (SEC) L: 2014 (1-0*)
Ole Miss (SEC) T: 2015 (0-0)
South Carolina 2x (SEC) L: 2014 (2-0), 2017 (2-1)
Duke (ACC) L: 2015 (2-0*)
West Virginia (Big 12) L: 2015 (1-0)
Wake Forest (ACC) W: 2015 (2-1)
Alabama 2x (SEC) W: 2018 (4-2), L: 2016 (1-0)
Texas A&M (SEC) L: 2014 (2-1)
Michigan (Big Ten) W: 2018 (3-2)

*National Tournament Game

FGCU Records vs Power 5 Conference Schools:
Big Ten (1-1)
SEC (4-11-1)
Big 12 (0-1)
PAC-12 (2-1)
ACC (3-7)

A-SUN Legion of Doom:
The junior duo of Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen and Evdokia "Evi" Popadinova aka the A-SUN Legion of Doom has been one of the main factors on the offensive end, even though they've become major targets by defenders whenever they try to score

Since transferring from Northwestern Ohio (NAIA), Popadinova is currently tied for the lead with four goals. In the game against Michigan, the Bulgarian native scored a goal on three shots.

Boilesen is currently has two goals and two assists in her name including an assist against Michigan. The Sao Paulo native has 13 career goals of her own and recently passed Ali Rogers, FGCU's current women's soccer direct of operations, and Olivia Elias (12) for 8th all-time. She is now four goals away from passing Gina Petracco (16) for 7th all-time in career goals.

(Holly)wood:
Senior midfielder Holly Fritz has been on a hot start on her own right. The Cape Coral native who transferred from Florida State last season is currently tied with Popadinova with four goals. In the game against Michigan, Fritz played all 90 minutes and scored two of the Eagles three goals, including the game-winning goal on a penalty kick.

Because of her stellar performance against Michigan, Fritz was named A-SUN Player of the Week.

Strong Defense:
The defense has allowed only two goals so far thanks to the help of senior Camile Knudstrup, juniors Lindsey Patton Opal Curless and sophomore Zoey Spitzer. Although technically they gave up four goals, the two other goals were own goals, so they don't really count in a sense.

Junior goalkeeper Melissa Weck (4-0) fought tooth-and-nail to keep the win against Michigan. The California native had six saves against the Wolverines and has 13 total this season. Weck was named A-SUN Defensive Player of the Week in the final week of August.

Social Spread:
According to a tweet posted by Chris Henderson, Co-Proprietor of the WoSo Independent Podcast, FGCU is one of 12 teams that remain in good spirits (aka the "U" word).

To go off track briefly, I don't like saying the "U" word (U*********) because it's a superstition to me and could hurt our record. It's like when a pitcher throws a ******* game and someone says those two word and ruins it. Same kind of scenario.

In the Polls:
The Eagles have made it known that they're gonna fight as they have received votes (three to be exact) in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll. A win over Ohio State might increase the Eagles' chances of getting in the top 25 officially.

Scouting Ohio State:
The Buckeyes are coming off of a 1-0 win against Notre Dame at home and are on a current three-game winning streak, and like the Eagles, they are also receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll (26 to be exact).

Offensively, freshmen Emily Vatne and Kayla Fischer and junior Alyssa Baumbick lead the way in scoring. Vatne leads the team with three goals while Fischer and Baumbick are tied for second with two goals each.

Vatne was named named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after her phenomenal weekend where she had a hat trick in an 8-0 win against Morehead State.

Defensively, senior goalkeeper Devon Kerr (3-2) has started all five matches and has 22 saves so far. The three-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete had five saves against Notre Dame in the 1-0 shutout.

This will be the second time FGCU and Ohio State will play each other. The first time was in 2016 where the Eagles lost 1-0 at the FGCU Soccer Complex.

Scouting Dayton:
Dayton are going into the weekend with a matchup with Akron looming Friday prior to playing.  The Flyers have been tough on the defensive end thus far, allowing just a single goal in all five of their matchups.

In an earlier game, the Flyers lost 1-0 at home against Butler.

Dayton has put together a 3-0 record away from Baujan Field, but is 0-2 on their home turf this season, but both of the Flyers losses have come in tight 1-0 ballgames, with each opponent tally coming off of a Dayton own goal.

Offensively, junior Micayla Livingston has been the only multi-goal scorer with two, both coming in the Eastern Michigan game.

Defensively, senior goalkeeper Kaelyn Johns (3-2) has been in net all 455+ minutes this season for Dayton, with 22 saves.

This will be the second time both teams will play each other. The first was on Sunday, Aug 23, 2015 at the FGCU Soccer Complex where the Eagles won 2-0

How to Stay Updated:
Livestats will be available for both games. The game against Ohio State will air on Livestream on the Big Ten Network Plus. Viewers will need a subscription to watch the game.

For the game against Dayton, it will air on ESPN+. It costs $4.99 a month to watch all livestream games

Fans can also keep up to date on the teams' Twitter accounts:
FGCU: @FGCU_WSoccer
Ohio State: @OhioStateWSOC

Link to Henderson Tweet: https://twitter.com/chris_awk/status/1036509284899713024

Livestats Links:
http://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/womens-soccer-live-stats/

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=221458

Livestream Link:
https://www.btn2go.com/game/florida-gulf-coast-at-ohio-st-on-09072018

http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/edfa0945-cfe6-419d-8510-827888004fd3/florida-gulf-coast-vs-dayton