FGCU W. Soc vs Liberty: A-SUN QF Recap

After dealing with several moment of being targeted on the legs, shoved, elbowed and pulled by their hair, the FGCU women's soccer team (13-3-2), who entered as the #4 seed, fought tooth and nail to the end of the game and defeated #5 seed Liberty (6-11) 2-1 in the A-SUN Conference Tournament Quarterfinals. With the win, the Eagles not only are 4-0 against the Lady Flames, but have now advanced to the semifinals of the A-SUN Conference Tournament.

"I am proud our ladies and how well they handled the pressure at the end of the game to live to play another day" head coach Jim Blankenship said.  "Melissa (Weck) made a big save late and the defense held up for us again."

"I am so proud of our girls because they left everything on the field," said head coach Lang Wedemeyer. "We had our chances, hitting the post and scoring to get our energy back but we came up just short and that is the cruelty of the game. We struggled at times throughout the season but they always stayed positive and worked hard. "

"To lose the first two games of conference and to fight back and up at this position and battle like they did today I couldn't be more proud."

Blakenship sent junior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Melissa Weck to the box while Wedemeyer sent sophomore Melody Jayroe to counter.

12 minutes into the first half, Weck would get a clutch save after a shot attempt from senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Caroline Boone, but soon after, the Yorba Linda, California native suffered an injury after a collision in the box. Blakenship decided to pull her out and send freshman Stephanie Starr between the posts, but three minutes later, Weck would return in good spirits. Starr would finish after 3:38, but it was her first taste of A-SUN postseason play.

27 minutes in, after a few Liberty fouls (no surprise) and an offside call on FGCU, the A-SUN Legion of Doom, junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference members Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen and Evdokia "Evi" Popadinova gave the Eagles the lead. Boilesen would send a through ball to Popadinova for a clear shot to the bottom right corner, giving FGCU a 1-0 lead before the end of the first half. This was Popadinova's 14th goal of the season. With her 14th goal, Popadinova tied A-SUN all-time goal leader Tabby Tindell's 2016 season record for fourth all-time in a single season. The Bulgarian could pass Tindell's '16 season and tied her 2013 season (15) with a goal.

For Boilesen, it was her ninth assist of the season.

12 minutes into the second half, after Liberty committed their seventh foul of the match, the Eagles would extend the lead with a goal from sophomore Cassidy Morgan with an assist from senior Camille Knudstrup. For Morgan, it was her third goal of the season while it was Knudstrup's fourth assist of the season.

The Lady Flames continued to be too aggressive on the Eagles with several fouls, yet no yellow or red card was called on them. It made me really mad from the terrible officiating that occurred. Clearly, there were fouls that Liberty made that could easily be a yellow card, but the refs blew every single one of them until the end.

With 10 minutes left, the Lady Flames would finally get on the board as sophomore A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Cora Duininck would score her first career goal of the season.

After two FGCU fouls, it all came down to the last 15 seconds for the Lady Flames for one chance to send the match into overtime. As the free kick occurred, freshman Kasey Jamieson attempted the shot to send it to OT, but with stunning Eagle defense, the ball went over the net, thus ending the game.

Weck earned her 13th win of the season and finished with two saves, putting her record at 13-3-2.

Jayroe was dubbed with her eighth loss of the season finishing with three saves.

With the loss, Liberty is eliminated from the tournament, thus ended their season at 6-11 overall with a 5-3 record in conference.

The Eagles will face #1 seed Lipscomb in the semifinals. Lipscomb earned a first-round bye and awaited the winner between FGCU and Liberty.

Meanwhile in Newark, #2 seed NJIT, who also had a first-round bye, were awaiting the winner between #3 seed Kennesaw and #6 seed North Alabama, and the final result came in: NJIT will be facing #6 seed North Alabama in the semifinals.

The Lions clawed the Owls 2-1 after goals from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Anna Bove and senior Kylie Huey.

So now the semifinals are set in stone, #1 Lipscomb will face #4 FGCU while #2 NJIT face #6 North Alabama.

Up Next:
The Eagles play Lipscomb on Sunday at 2 P.M. The winner will go on to the A-SUN Championship finals.

If FGCU wins, they will await the winner between North Alabama and NJIT in the other semifinals.
Should NJIT and FGCU win, the finals will be held in Newark since NJIT is the higher seed, but should FGCU face North Alabama, which I hope will happen, the finals will be held at the FGCU Soccer Complex.