In a wave of green, the FGCU women's soccer team (9-0-2, 3-0 A-SUN) claimed a 2-0 win against new A-SUN Conference member North Alabama (7-5, 1-1 A-SUN) in their first ever matchup at the FGCU Soccer Complex.
"We got the points we needed" head coach Jim Blankenship said. "We were a little bit impatient, but our attacking mentality was better in the second half and it earned us more chances with shots and corners. The first goal helped the momentum build and then we score another one right away."
For starting goalkeepers, Blakenship sent junior Melissa Weck to the box while North Alabama head coach Chris Walker sent senior Shelby Thornton to counter.
Despite the fact that the top two scoring teams in the A-SUN were going head to head Friday night, scoring chances were tough for the two sides to come up with in the first half. North Alabama got a couple of shots on net early, but both were easy stops for Weck to keep the game even through the first 10 minutes of action.
Sophomore Hope Van Wagner put the Eagles first shot on net in the 15th minute and junior Silvana Gordon got another in the 23rd minute, but it wasn't until nearly 15 minutes later that FGCU got another good look at goal.
With under six minutes remaining in the half, junior Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen chipped a shot past the goalie from the left side of the box and it looked like the Green and Blue were going to go ahead, but the ball slid just to the right of the far post and out of bounds harmlessly to keep it a scoreless contest at the half.
Shots were 7-6 in favor of the Eagles at the break, but the Lions had four shots on to FGCU's three.
Again UNA made a push early in the half as the second began, but again Weck was up to the task, stopping an early chance to keep the Lions off the board.
FGCU tried to recreate some of their magic from the opening weekend of A-SUN play as junior Lindsey Patton put her head on a corner kick from senior Holly Fritz, but was unable to find the net to keep it a 0-0 game.
The Eagles finally broke through in the 72nd minute when another Fritz corner was perfectly lofted into the box to Boilesen, who then made the short pass to the near post to junior Evdokia "Evi Popadinova, who buried it for her ninth goal of the year to give FGCU a 1-0 lead.
"Our team is very supportive of each other, and Jim (Blakenship) does a great job talking to us as well." said Boilesen. "We have a great staff this year. They know what to do, they know what to tell us, and we just have to listen, and we did that in the second half, and that's why we scored the goals, so I'm just really happy with the team this year because it's a great mentality, great energy, and it's just awesome to be on the field with them."
The goal allowed the Eagles to exhale and they had two more chances right away before a UNA foul deep in the FGCU attacking third led to a free kick for Boilesen who found Popadinova in traffic in the box for a bouncing header that trickled in for her second goal in just six minutes to make it a 2-0 game. This was Popadinova's 10th goal of the season.
"When I score, I'm a different person after that," said Popadinova. "That's where I struggle a lot because I want that to happen immediately, but it's not always coming in the first half, so that's where I have to talk in my mind like it's gonna come, and that's the way I think I have to have the right mentality, which I'm doing well with."
The Eagles put it in cruise control from there and the Lions never threatened again as Weck (9-0-2) posted yet another clean sheet and FGCU remained unbeaten with a 2-0 victory. Weck made six saves in her seventh shutout of the year, moving her into a 5th place tie on the active NCAA list with her 25th career clean sheet.
"It was really hard in the first half," said Popadinova. "We couldn't really connect. The pace was slow, but our coaches talked to us and motivated us a lot, so we had to change and come up with a different mentality."
"I really struggled. The first half for me was really hard, but I'm glad that I slowed down, but I still expected more every time, and I'm glad we changed it."
Thornton (6-5) would earn the loss after giving up both goals and finish with six saves.
FGCU dominated the second half, finishing with a 9-3 shot advantage and a 6-1 corner advantage in the final 45 minutes.
Popadinova scored twice to become one of just six players nationally with 10 or more goals on the year.
Boilesen, the NCAA's active assist leader, added to her total with two helpers to give her a team best seven on the year while Fritz notched her 14th point with an assist of her own.
FGCU continues their best start in history at 9-0-2 and stays perfect in A-SUN action at 3-0-0 to remain atop the league standings.
UNA falls to 7-5-0 overall and 1-1-0 in A-SUN action.
Speaking of which, the Eagles are now one of eight teams left without a loss. The most recent loss was from #11 Boston College (10-2) as they fell 2-1 in overtime to Wake Forest.
#8 Texas also played and ended up in a 1-1 draw against #13 Oklahoma State.
Along with FGCU, #1 Stanford (10-0-1), #2 USC (9-0-1), #7 Georgetown (9-0-2), #8 Texas (9-0-2), #9 Washington State (10-0), #18 Colorado (9-0-2) and UC Riverside (9-0-1) also remain without a loss.
The Eagles won't have much time to celebrate the win as they gear up for rival Lipscomb (7-3-2, 2-0 A-SUN) on Sunday in a rematch of each of the past three A-SUN Championship games at 1 PM at the FGCU Soccer Complex.
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