FGCU W. Soc vs Lipscomb: A-SUN Semifinals Preview

It will be a heavyweight battle Sunday afternoon in the Music City as the 2017 A-SUN Champion FGCU Eagles take on take on the 2018 Champion Lipscomb Lady Bisons with a trip to the tournament championship game on the line.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles enter their semifinal matchup with the Lady Bison off of an intense quarterfinal contest against Liberty full of twists and turns.

FGCU controlled the action for the first 80 minutes Friday night, getting a goal from junior Evdokia Popadinova in the 28th minute, her A-SUN leading 14th, followed by an early second half tally from sophomore Cassidy Morgan to take a 2-0 lead. 

On the defensive end they held Liberty without a single shot for nearly 50 minutes through the middle of the game, suffocating the Lady Flames any time they attempted to move into the attacking third.

Liberty finally got a shot off in the 73rd minute and it was easily their best chance to that point of the night, but the shot rang off the right post to keep the Eagles in front 2-0. With their season on the line, Liberty went into fight or flight mode, attacking the Eagles and finally breaking through with a goal in the 83rd minute to make it 2-1.  The Lady Flames continued to come at FGCU late, working the ball onto the doorstep of the Eagle net in the closing seconds, but the defense of the Green and Blue held strong, hanging on to the final horn to come away with the 2-1 win.

Scouting the Lady Bison:
Lipscomb captured their first outright A-SUN Conference Championship this season by going 7-1-0 in league action.  The Lady Bison took it down to the wire, scoring an overtime goal in their season finale against Kennesaw to break a scoreless tie and take home the title to Nashville.

The Lady Bison feature a host of talent, including the top three superlative winners in the A-SUN this season in Player of the Year Olivia Doak, Goalkeeper of the Year Kate Mason, and Defensive Player of the Year Logan McFadden.

Statistically, Lipscomb finished right behind FGCU in nearly every major team category in the A-SUN including goals (39), assists (33), and goals allowed (14) on the year.

What's at Stake:
The winner of the semifinal will go on to the A-SUN Championship game.

Lipscomb is listed as the #1 seed, while FGCU is listed as #4.

On the other side in Newark, NJIT, who is listed as the #2 seed, will face #6 seed North Alabama, who defeated #3 seed Kennesaw 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

If FGCU and North Alabama win, the championship will be held at the FGCU Soccer Complex in Ft Myers, but if FGCU faces NJIT, the championship will remain in Newark since the Highlanders would be the highest seed in the tournament

This is UNA's first time in the A-SUN Tournament for women's soccer, and if they win the tournament, it doesn't really means anything. I mean if they win the tournament, then that's great for their program, but since this is their first year in NCAA DI after transitioning from the NCAA DII Gulf South Conference, they will not be eligible to go to the NCAA National Women's Soccer Tournament due to the four-year transitional period, and instead the regular season champion will be going to the national tournament.

How to Keep Up:

Both games will have livestats available and will air on Facebook Live on the Lipscomb women's soccer Facebook page.

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

Livestats link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=235019

Livestream Link:  https://www.facebook.com/LipscombWomensSoccer/