FGCU’s division 2 hockey club team entered October for greener pastures as they came into the month already 0-2. Next up was the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) in a weekend doubleheader as the Eagles looked to gather control of their season.
Early pressure from FGCU continued throughout the whole weekend, and it was the significant factor in the Eagles’ dominant wins.
The Eagles’ first goal came from junior DJ Castello six minutes in with an assist from junior TJ Zebley. Zebley scored FGCU’s second goal minutes later, putting the Eagles up 2-0 early in the game.
The 2-0 lead for FGCU was the largest lead the Eagles had seen in the season.
That lead would only extend as FGCU gained possession entering the second period. Only 50 seconds into the period, Zebley scored again, putting the Eagles up 3-0. This goal opened the floodgates for the Eagles, as their pressure was no match for the Raiders.
Two more goals were tacked on to the Eagles’ total, as senior Spence Van Tiem and junior Shayne Tomlinson scored each goal, respectively.
Desperation was the tone of the third and final period for the Raiders as FGCU continued to dominate. Entering the period, the Eagles were up 5-0 with a shot differential of 34 to the Raiders’ seven.
MSOE turned on the aggression for the final period; however, FGCU continued their control, scoring four goals to end the game. Senior Dawson Zahorian scored the first goal for the Eagles in the period, followed by Van Tiem, junior Jack Cohen and Costello in that order.
The Eagles ended the game with a shutout win, 9-0. It was a complete 180 from the week before when FGCU lost both games against Tampa.
In a post-game interview from the team’s player of the game, TJ Zebly described how he prepared for his incredible performance.
“Ate good, drank a lot of water, got ready with the guys, played some soccer, loosened up, you know, come to work ready to go,” Zebly said.
Heading into the next game, FGCU looked to replicate what they were able to do in game one.
The Eagles not only replicated that performance, but they nearly doubled their score from the night before.
The game would start out even until the Eagles turned it up a notch with a flurry of three goals scored back-to-back-to-back by the sixth minute. Sophomore Jake Court scored the first of the three goals with freshman Aiden McCarthy and junior Carson Englemann scoring the other two.
Pressure was already on the Raiders as they aimed not to repeat the same game as the day prior, but being at a deficit of 3-0 this early was not what they needed to turn it around.
This pressure would not let up as FGCU scored another two goals, both in the 14th minute. Junior Enzo Tarducci scored off a ricocheting puck bouncing off the goalpost and sophomore Adam Beauvais scored from an error by the Raiders’ goalie saving a goal before letting it roll in.
The first period ended with another goal from McCarthy, his second of the game. McCarthy’s goal put the Eagles up 6-0 heading into the second period. FGCU had 27 shots on goal compared to MOSE’s two.
The second period was not any better for the Raiders as the Eagles replicated their performance from the first period, scoring six goals in the second period. Three of those goals came within the first two minutes.
Zahorian scored the first of these goals, followed by McCarthy for his third goal in just over a period of play. The third goal came from Van Tiem to round out the onslaught of goals, putting the Eagles up 9-0.
FGCU ended their second period barrage with three more goals to bump up the score to 12-0. Sophomores Brady Carlock and Andrew Castello as well as Tomlinson scored these three goals, with each being their first goals of this game.
Before the third period, MSOE made a goalie change. With that as well as it being the final period, the third period was not as dominant as the previous two as the Eagles looked to burn clock with the game already sealed.
FGCU would end the period scoring two more goals. The first goal was scored by graduate student Wyatt Engelmann and the second goal was scored by junior Shayne Murphy within the first five minutes of the third period. Both of these goals were the first of the weekend for both players.
The final score resulted in a 14-0 win for the FGCU Eagles.To show the magnitude of the dominance, the Eagles scored 23 goals compared to the Raiders’ zero. This included a shot differential of 127 to 15.
FGCU’s record moves to 2-2 on the season. The Eagles look to continue their dominance from this past weekend as they head on the road for a three-day stay at the Lahaye Ice Center for the Liberty University Showcase from Oct.13-15.
