FGCU’s women’s soccer team enters this upcoming season as back-to-back ASUN Conference championships. They look to defend the title in 2024 for a three-peat.
The Eagles ended last season with a conference record of 7-1-3 and an overall record of 12-5-5. This was achieved with 33 goals and an average of 1.5 goals per game throughout 22 games, second-best in both categories in the ASUN Conference.
Erika Zschuppe, the catalyst in last year’s championship game, scoring a hat trick in the final few minutes, shared thoughts on how their first preseason game against the University of Miami Hurricanes will only make the team stronger.
“It is our first exhibition game,” Zschuppe said. “Especially against an ACC team like Miami, they’re good and challenge us, so it only makes us better.”
Head Coach Jim Blankenship prepares the women’s team for one of their toughest non-conference schedules yet. After the first exhibition game, he shared his thoughts on the team’s progress.
“So overall, I was incredibly pleased, especially defensively,” Blankenship said. “I thought our guys did a phenomenal job keeping them [University of Miami] at bay. And I felt as the game went on, the attack got better and better.”
The Eagles will start the schedule on the road at the University of South Florida and the University of Iowa on Sunday, Aug. 25, and Thursday, Aug. 29. The Hawkeyes are set to be the Eagles’ most anticipated matchups, as they are ranked in the top-25 nationally.
Depaul University concludes FGCU’s non-conference road journey on Sunday, Sept. 1. Over the next few weeks, the Eagles will host two in-state rivals at the Pickering Field at FGCU Soccer Complex.
The first of the two cross-state rival games begins with the Florida Atlantic University on Thursday, Sept. 5 and the University of Florida on Sunday, Sept. 15 for a whiteout ten days later. In the ten-day stretch between games, the Eagles play Appalachian State University on Thursday, Sept. 12.
For a coach like Blankenship, who has 200 victories at FGCU and is nearing 450 career victories at the NCAA Division I level, getting the team in the right mindset and developing his players’ growth is essential.
“The standards are pretty high here, expectations pretty high,” Blakenship said. “They [players] want those kinds of games because they know those games are going to challenge them, they’re going to stretch them, and ultimately, they’re going to make us individually better and as a team better.”
The Eagles will play 11 conference games over two months. Out of those matches, there are two that the team needs to be most prepared for.
FGCU will host the newest team, the University of West Georgia, on Sunday, Oct. 6. The Eagles have yet to have experience competing against the program, which makes the competitiveness of this matchup unpredictable.
The 2023 ASUN Conference Championship rematch is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17, against the University of North Alabama Lions. The Eagles barely fended off the Lions in their title match, winning in overtime.
The Eagles kicked off their season against the Florida International University Panthers on Thursday, Aug. 15, with a 2-1 loss. They look to use the experience from their non-conference matches to prepare them for conference play.
“The schedule’s not gonna get easier, but we’re used to that, Blankenship said. “It’s about getting us right for a conference.”
