Friday, November 04, 2011

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A pair of FGCU goals separated by less than six minutes in the second half proved to be the difference, as the top-seeded Eagles defeated fifth-seeded North Florida, 2-1, in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament on Friday night. With the win, the Eagles advance to Sunday’s championship game against sixth-seeded Mercer at 1 p.m.

Freshman Shannen Wacker opened the scoring in the 50th minute, while senior Gina Petracco provided the eventual game-winning goal at the 55:13 mark. The A-Sun Scholar Athlete of the Year, Petracco also assisted on the game’s first goal.

After going through the four-year Division I transition period since the program was started in 2007, FGCU picked up the win its first-ever postseason contest. The Eagles advance to take on Mercer, who also accomplished a first earlier in the night when it became the first No. 6 seed to advance to the A-Sun championship.

Trailing 2-0, UNF, who defeated fourth-seeded Belmont in the quarterfinals, refused to go away as it drew to within one, 2-1, at the 80:09 mark on freshman Katie Schafer’s goal from the right side of the goal box. Schafer’s goal was her second of the season, as the first came in last week’s win at Belmont.

FGCU was able fend off a late surge from the Ospreys over the final 10 minutes thanks to a pair of nice saves from A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year Stephanie Powers, who earned her 41st career win in net.

Sunday’s championship game between FGCU and Mercer can be seen live for free on A-Sun TV.

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