After Hurricane Milton stalled out the Eagles season, they returned to Pickering Field at the FGCU Soccer Complex to face the Florida Atlantic University Owls on Tuesday, Oct. 15. FGCU dropped its midweek matchup 3-0 against their cross-state rivals.
The Eagles entered the match with positive momentum. They had a 2-1-1 record through their last four games, excluding their postponed matchup against the Bellarmine University Knights due to Hurricane Milton.
Through the team’s first six games, they lost each and scored an average of 0.5 goals per match. FGCU looks to ride on its recent success in its last non-conference game of the season.
They started the first half struggling to put pressure on the FAU, as the team was outshot 4-1 through 10 minutes of play.
It wasn’t until the halfway point of the first half that the Eagles began to match the pace of the Owls, as they obtained three straight shots on goal being aided by their opponents fouling. FAU fouled, 9-7, and outshot, 7-5, FGCU to end the half.
Both teams could not gain an advantage over one another. While FAU has been dominant when they have the ball, FGCU has dictated the pace of the match through the first 45 minutes.
The back-and-forth dynamic of the match was put to bed by forward Oliver Moller-Jensen who scored the Owl’s first goal in the 55th minute. This goal shifted the momentum in FAU’s favor as it forced the Eagles on the backfoot across the next 35 minutes.
FAU took its second goal of the game 12 minutes later via a header by forward Noah Kvifte with an assist by midfielder Aboubacar Traore.
Before the Eagles could rally back from a 2-0 deficit, forward Cao Charves was red-carded for unsporting behavior a minute later. Many Eagles starters were injured entering this game which forced Chaves into a crucial role in the Eagles’ offense and without him the team stalled out.
“It’s not easy to kind of sustain [opportunities to score] without scoring goals,” Head Coach Jesse Cormier said. “So I thought we had a lot of chances, a lot of crosses that we need to meet and we need to convert.”
Owls’ midfielder Zach Hassell scores FAU’s third goal of the match with 16 seconds on the clock to put a close on their fourth win of the season. This marked the Owls’ second straight win on the Eagles, which moves the all-time matchup record to 6-8-2 dating back to 2007.
FGCU falls to 2-7-2 on the season yet they are still in play for the ASUN Conference postseason as they hold a 1-1-1 record in conference play and hold the final postseason spot.
“Our focus right now is Lipscomb,” Cormier said. “We have to get guys healthy and we have to be prepared for Lipscomb. That’s our mindset.”
The Eagles return to Pickering Field against the Lipscomb University Bisons on Saturday, Oct. 19 to continue conference play. With a victory against the Bisons, the Eagles have the opportunity to jump to the fourth in the standings with outside help.
“I think overall, the guys recognize that to get to where we want to go, you have to go through the ASUN. So we can’t dwell on it,” Cormier said.
