Following FGCU women’s soccer team’s longest run in the postseason, assistant coach Ben Boehner will be leaving FGCU to join the Syracuse women’s soccer team coaching staff as an assistant, per Syracuse’s and Boehner’s social media.
“Officially official,” Boehner said in a statement on his Instagram on Feb. 5. “Hard to put into words what this means to me exactly, but what I do know is there are a lot of people who helped me get to where I am today. Family, friends, colleagues, you name it!! Stoked to be joining the staff with two class individuals in Phil (Wheddon) and Kelly (Lawrence) and the family at Syracuse University. Want to thank everyone at FGCU and Missouri who helped me along the way. Excited to get started at Syracuse in life you have to find what it is you’re passionate about and go for it. It probably won’t be easy but that’s a big part of this game called life.”
Boehner joined the Eagles after a two-year volunteer coaching gig at Missouri, following the 2013-2014 season. In his two years as head coach Jim Blankenship’s right hand man, FGCU had a combined record of 31-6-6 along with two consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season titles, Atlantic Sun Women’s Soccer Championships and NCAA appearances, reaching the second round in the 2015 season.
FGCU has emerged as a soccer powerhouse, proving itself against prestigious teams with a victory over Florida earlier in the season, who beat No. 1 ranked Florida State later on in the season, as well as a first round win over South Florida. Although FGCU did lose in the second round to Duke, the Eagles held their own against the runner-up in the 2015 NCAA tournament.
With FGCU drawing national attention, it has become hard for them to hang on to its coaching staff, and it might even become harder with the continuous growth of the program.
Current assistant coach Melissa Arnold, who spent four years playing under Blankenship, stepped in as assistant this year after the departure of Erin Switalski, who left FGCU to take on the head coaching job at Division II powerhouse University of Tampa.
With Boehner’s departure, an open position remains on FGCU’s coaching staff alongside Blankenship and Arnold. Blankenship has not yet commented on Boehner’s departure.