Lillback leads Eagles over Stetson and secures the ASUN East Division title

FORT MYERS, Florida. – It took an additional 42 seconds, but the FGCU women’s soccer team (10-7-0, 7-2-0 ASUN) went away with a 2-1 win over Stetson (6-10-2, 3-5-1.) including ASUN), Saturday night and the title of ASUN East Division.

Second year Louise Liillback (Stockholm, Sweden / Tibble Gymnasium) scored both goals for the Eagles, including the game winner in the first minute of extra time. She now has 12 goals for the season, 11 of them in ASUN.

The win gives the Eagles nine points in ASUN East, who are at the top of the table with Liberty. However, with the FGCU defeating the Flames last week, the Eagles claim the number 1 and will host the first two rounds of the ASUN tournament which starts on Friday.

Standings of the ASUN-Ost-Division

“Big win, just the roller coaster of the game was incredible,” said head coach Jim Blankenship. “I thought the first half was very good, we set the pace and scored a great goal. Thanks to Stetson, they came out with a different mentality in the second half and scored a great goal in the end. To pull it off, Louise saved them Hello, I’m proud of our ladies and we beat a really good team. We’re going through and it doesn’t get any easier. We have to buckle up and understand that we have a phenomenal chance ahead of us. “

The Eagles beat Stetson 15-8 and had a 7-4 lead on shots on goal, while each team only received one corner kick.

Junior Alyssa Abbondandolo (Cape Coral, Florida / Oasis HS), Senior Ashlee Brentlinger (Middletown, Del./Padua Academy), PhD student Syniah Clark (Cape Coral, Florida / Ida Baker HS) and newbie Rosa Horskjaer (Copenhagen, Denmark / Falkonergardens Gymnasium) got all assists during the night.

Junior Katie Sullivan (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North HS / Creighton) was solid in goal and scored the victory with three saves.

The Eagles rose in the 19th on the board^NS Minute when Brentlinger sent a ball forward towards Lillback. While the goalkeeper tried to hit him away, Lillback hit her on the ball and threw it past her into the net.

The score stayed the same until the second half, but when the hatters came out of the locker room they were much more aggressive, shooting four shots before hitting their fifth half-time shot in the 72nd. found the balance^nd Minute. Sullivan made a great jump save after the first shot from Georgia Place, but the rebound went straight to Jackie Fiacco, who hit him into the open net.

After Stetson tied the game, the Eagles became the attacker and shot four shots over the next five minutes but were unable to convert when the competition went into overtime.
In extra time, Clark sent the ball into the penalty area, where Horskjaer coraled it and found an open lillback in front of the keeper. She collected it with her left foot and stuck it in the back of the net to trigger the festivities.

Most career goals

Most career points

* ASUN record

The win means that there will be at least one more home game for the five seniors of the FGCU. Brentlinger, Clark, Meagan Gruber (Long Beach, California / Woodrow Wilson HS / Jacksonville), Kara Kyramarios (Titusville, Florida / Titusville HS) and Zoey Spitzer (Naples, Florida / Gulf Coast HS), all of which were honored ahead of the game on Saturday night.

The Eagles will now advance to the ASUN tournament and host the first two rounds, which begin with a matchup against Bellarmine on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. Central Arkansas and Kennesaw State will compete in the first quarterfinals at Pickering Field at 4:00 p.m. CET

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gYxwKWEKeA
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COACH JIM BLANKENSHIP
A veteran of over two decades in college coaching, head coach Jim BlankenshipNamed ASUN Coach of the Year in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2019, has made FGCU women’s football an annual contender in the ASUN conference and an emerging program in the Southern Region in just 13 seasons. Blankenship launched the program in 2007 and has since led the Eagles to 13 double-digit winning seasons that culminated with the ASUN Regular Season Championships in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 which led to the Eagles also won consecutive ASUN tournament titles as they became the first team in university history to make it to the NCAA tournament. The Eagles won the 2014 ASUN tournament and hosted the first ever NCAA championship event on campus. The Eagles made their fourth NCAA tournament appearance with the 2015 ASUN Tournament Championship and won their first NCAA game at the USF in 2015 while finishing 24th in the nation. In 2016, the Eagles made three consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, with a third ASUN tournament title in a row. A year later, the Eagles became the first ASUN women’s soccer program to complete four consecutive NCAA tournaments in 2017, with one more tournament title. Blankenship held the FGCU for the first 15 seasons of the program’s existence, including a 93-19-15 (.820) mark in ASUN. Blankenship has an impressive career record of 424-140-38 (0.735) over 31 seasons at the helm of FGCU, the University of Miami, Lynn University and St. Thomas University.

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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have come together to win an incredible 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at Division I level. Additionally, in just ten seasons of DI postseason eligibility, the Eagles have combined 42 teams or individuals to compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have achieved a national top 25 placement in their respective sport – including women’s basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men’s football (2018, 2019) and women’s football ( 2018) as three of the youngest. In 2016-17, the Greens and Blues achieved a division-top sixth place in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and the top 100 finishes nationally, ahead of several Power 5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles received an ASUN and Florida State‘s top seven teams that received the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their rate of academic progress in their sport. The FGCU also achieved an overall classroom record of 3.50 GPA in the fall semester of 2020, outperforming the general university student population for 23 consecutive semesters. Another milestone was reached in Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, and Spring 2021, as all 15 programs achieved a Team GPA of 3.0 or higher. The Eagles also did 7,200 all-time volunteer hours in 2017 and were recognized as one of two runners-up for the Fiesta Bowl’s first ever NACDA Community Service Award.