The FGCU women's soccer team (10-4-1, 5-1-1 A-SUN) dropped its first ASUN Conference match of the season, falling 1-0 on the road at Liberty (9-6-2, 5-2-0 A-SUN) Sunday afternoon.
Despite the misstep, the Eagles remain at the top of the league standings. FGCU is currently tied with Lipscomb for the top spot in the A-SUN and the team is still in the hunt for the 2019 regular season conference title.
"This was a tough loss for us," head coach Jim Blankenship said. "We missed out on some good opportunities. We had chances on a penalty kick and a few breakaways, but Liberty really battled against us. Their team capitalized on the only mistake that we made defensively. We had previous opportunities to put the game away, but they ended up having the difference-maker."
The teams were evenly matched in the first half, which proved to be extremely physical as the refs blew the whistle a combined 15 times. One of the fouls was called against the Flames inside their box, providing the Eagles with a penalty kick opportunity just under 16 minutes into the match. Liberty's keeper came up with the stop to keep FGCU at bay.
Both senior Melissa Weck and Liberty's Melody Jayroe were tested with on-frame attempts in the opening 45 minutes, but maintained a clean sheet as the teams went into the break knotted up at 0-0.
Ten minutes into the second half, Gabrielle Farrell put the Flames on the board by scoring in a moment of chaos that the home team had stirred up in FGCU's box. The shot put Liberty up 1-0, marking the first time the Eagles had trailed since the Sept. 12 match against the Florida Gators, who are currently ranked 24th in the country.
Senior Evdokia Popadinova responded less than two minutes later with a great attempt at the equalizer, but Jayroe was there to make the stop. Classmate Lindsey Patton tallied the team's final on-frame attempt of the match in the 66th minute. From there, the Flames held on for the win.
Weck (10-4-1) finished her day between the pipes making a season-high 10 saves. With just two games left in the regular season, she is 13 saves away from overtaking Stephanie Powers (FGCU 2008-11) for the second-most in the FGCU record book. Over the course of 90 minutes, the Flames earned a 16-10 advantage in shots and held the Eagles to just four attempts on-frame.
This week's 1-1 record in A-SUN play awarded the Eagles double-digit wins for the 11th consecutive season under Blankenship's tenure. The team has achieved this mark 12 of the overall 13 seasons in program history.
Up Next:
FGCU will return to the Nest to host ASA Miami in its final non-conference game of the season at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25. Fans are invited to attend before heading over to Alico Arena for Dunk City After Dark's 7 p.m. start time.
A-SUN Standings:
T-1. FGCU * (16 points, 10-4-1, 5-1-1 A-SUN)
T-1. Lipscomb * (16 points, 11-5-1, 5-1-1 A-SUN)
3. Liberty * (15 points, 9-6-2, 5-2-0 A-SUN)
4. Kennesaw State (12 points, 9-7-0, 4-3-0 A-SUN)
5. UNF (10 points, 9-5-2, 3-2-1 A-SUN)
6. NJIT (7 points, 5-6-3, 2-3-1 A-SUN)
7. North Alabama (6 points, 6-9-0, 2-4-0 A-SUN)
T-8. Stetson (1 point, 2-11-2, 0-5-1 A-SUN)
T-8. Jacksonville (1 point, 0-11-3, 0-5-1 A-SUN)
* - Denotes clinched spot in A-SUN Championship
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