By Kyle Grosskopf

Assistant Sports Editor

FGCU men’s soccer took on Stetson at home in the ASUN Conference Semifinal on Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. The Eagles lost 5-4 in six rounds of penalty kicks, ending the season for men’s soccer.

The Eagles had a first-round bye going into the tournament as a second seed, having an overall record of 9-5-1 and a conference record of 5-1.

The game started off slow with the first goal of the game not scored until the 44th minute of the game. The goal was off the foot of Ryan Medilah, from a cross by Joao Burti. This was Medilah’s 3rd goal of the season and Burti’s 2nd assist.

Stetson would come back to tie the game up in the 72nd minute with a header off a corner kick.

“They battled right to the end, so they were deserving,” FGCU head coach, Jesse Cormier, said.

In the first half, each team had three shots; but in the second half, FGCU controlled the ball, putting 12 shots on goal, compared to six by Stetson.

In total, FGCU had 17 shots, and Stetson had 11 shots. The Eagles had five saves and the Hatters had six saves.

“Stetson brought enough fight to get to penalty kicks,” Cormier said. “I’m disappointed, but we have a lot of guys coming back next year.”

With this win, Stetson moves onto the conference championship game against Lipscomb at Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. EST. Whoever wins the championship game moves on to get a bid in the NCAA Division I tournament.

    The last time FGCU won the conference tournament was in 2016.