Sunday, October 24, 2010

FORT MYERS, Fla. – On a night filled with the emotion of seeing its first four-year class play its final game, the FGCU women’s soccer team captured its first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title with a convincing 4-0 win over in-state rival Stetson on a picture-perfect Saturday evening at the FGCU Soccer Complex.

“What a great night. Just so much emotion with senior night, the kids that started our program,” said head coach Jim Blankenship. “Four years ago we had nothing and to be able to finish it with a championship is something you can only dream of. I’m so proud of our team. They worked so hard to get to this point and it was a really special night.”

Entering the game two points behind Jacksonville (8-1-1) in the A-Sun standings and faced with a must-win situation in order to win the title, the Eagles took a 1-0 lead into the half and poured in three goals in the second half to surpass the Dolphins by one point. The Eagles finished with 26 points, while Jacksonville had 25.

The 10-member senior class, which helped lead FGCU to 11-4-2 overall record and a unbeaten 8-0-2 record in the A-Sun, played the final six minutes and 11 seconds of their careers together until the final horn sounded.

After finishing one point away from claiming a share of the A-Sun regular season crown in 2009, FGCU’s 8-0-2 record is the 11th unblemished conference record in A-Sun history and the sixth since the A-Sun left divisions following the 1998 season.