FGCU WSOC vs FIU Preview

The FGCU women's soccer team will open up the 2019 season at home with a 7 p.m. match against FIU on Thursday, Aug. 22 at the FGCU Soccer Complex.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles finished last season 13-4-2 overall with a 5-3 record in the A-SUN before falling to Lipscomb in the semifinals of the A-SUN Tournament. Despite that, the Eagles did defeat three teams in the Power 5: Alabama (4-2), Ohio State (1-0) and Michigan (3-2).

Seniors Evdokia Popadinova and Melissa Weck lead the charge, after being named A-SUN Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively. Classmates Lindsey Patton and Marjorie Boilesen joined the pair on the Preseason All-Conference team and are predicted to be top contributors for this year's squad.

Multiple Eagles enter the 2019 season having already secured spots in the Green and Blue record book. Weck begins her senior campaign with 198 career saves, good for third in program history, and needs 76 to tie the record after finish last season with 65. The keeper's miniscule goals-against average of 0.73 checks in at second on the all-time list.

Boilesen already sits at the top of the program with a career average of 0.47 assists per game, almost a full 0.10 ahead of second place. Her 18 career assists through just two seasons in Fort Myers are good for seventh.

In addition to the preseason recognition from the A-SUN, Popadinova has garnered national attention. The forward was named to the 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List and was recently ranked 35th among the nation's collegiate women's soccer players by TopDrawerSoccer.com. Last year, she paced the league in points (35), goals (14), points per game (1.84) and goals per game (0.74) en route to collecting Second Team All-American honors from the United Soccer Coaches Association. Patton joined Popadinova on the South All-Region first team, while Boilesen was selected to the Third Team.

Head coach Jim Blankenship's team is joined by seven newcomers in his 13th season at the helm. Lander Peck, Amanda Crisalli and Lilly Lakich all come from the state of Florida, while Alison Wessel and Kailyn Sheehan both traveled down to Fort Myers from Illinois. Emily McCue and Louise Lillback are furthest from home, hailing from Vancouver and Stockholm, respectively.

Scouting FIU:
The matchup against the Panthers marks the start of the Eagles' campaign for a seventh A-SUN Tournament title in the past 10 seasons.

FIU returns 17 players from last year's squad that went 0-17-1 with a 0-9-1 mark in C-USA play. The returnees will be joined by 14 newcomers, including nine freshmen and four transfers.

Two of the Panthers returners includes redshirt junior Ashley Adams and sophomore Rayquel Berry. Adams led the Panthers with five goals while Berry followed with four.

Sophomore Christina Velazquez also returns as the team's starting goalkeeper. Velazquez started all 18 matches with 109 saves while allowing 63 goals.

Series History:
FGCU has only dropped one game to FIU in the history between the two programs, which the Eagles lead 9-1-1. Aside from a tie in 2009, the only time the Panthers have bested the Green and Blue was a 1-0 win in Fort Myers during the 2010 season.

How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available and will air livestream on YouTube. Fans can also keep up to date on Twitter.

FGCU: @FGCU_WSoccer
FIU: @FIUWSoccer

Promotions:
For the opening match, it will be dubbed as a green out, so marketing is encouraging fans to wear green to the game.

Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=267051

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWPlmFZxpc1KCiQx90Ei4hg/