Thursday, September 02, 2010

TAMPA, Fla. – The FGCU men’s soccer team opened the 2010 campaign in style on Wednesday night, using a pair of second half goals to defeat No. 13 USF, 2-1, in front of 1,424 fans at USF Soccer Stadium.

The win marks FGCU’s first-ever over a ranked opponent in the brief four-year history of the program and improves its record in season openers to 3-1, all of which have come on the road. Fresh-off an exhibition win over preseason No. 1 and 2009 national runner-up Akron, the loss snaps a 30-game home unbeaten streak (26-0-4) for USF. The last loss for the Bulls at home came on Sept. 20, 2008 against Connecticut.

“I’m really proud of the guys for coming out ready to go and earning this win,” said reigning Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year Bob Butehorn. “USF is a tremendous team that will make a lot of noise this season so this is a big win for us. We feel really good about where we are this early in the season, but we have a long season ahead of us that I’m really excited for.”