The Florida Gulf Coast University men’s soccer team earned its third Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in the past four years as the No. 2-seeded Eagles defeated No. 4-seeded University of North Florida last Sunday afternoon at hosting Lipscomb University, 1-0. The championship-winning goal came off the foot of Will Suedois in the 35th minute of play.
With the win, FGCU advances to its third NCAA Tournament in four seasons of Division-I postseason eligibility. FGCU’s first-round game will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 in Conway, S.C. at hosting Coastal Carolina’s campus.
With the shutout, goalkeeper Nathan Ingham was named the tournament MVP for the second time in his career. Suedois, Santiago Echeverri and Felipe DeSousa were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Echeverri, however, will not appear in the NCAA Tournament’s first round after being issued a red card in the 80th minute of the A-Sun Championship. The suspension will only last through the first game of the tournament should the Eagles continue into the round of 32.
“I’m tremendously proud of the guys for winning another A-Sun Championship and I couldn’t be happier for them,” coach Bob Butehorn told FGCU Athletics. “It’s been a tough season for us, but we pulled together when we needed to and reached another one of our goals for the year.”
The A-Sun tournament championship for the men’s soccer program adds to FGCU’s impressive list of league titles as FGCU now has 40 conference tournament or regular-season championships since joining the A-Sun in 2007-08