FGCU women in NCAA tournament
For the fourth time in the program’s five years of postseason eligibility, FGCU’s women’s soccer team will make an appearance in the 64-team NCAA Division I Tournament.
The Eagles (13-5-2) will travel just 145 miles north to take on South Florida at 1 p.m. Saturday in the first round.
A win in Tampa would send the Eagles to the second round in Gainesville Nov. 20 to face the winner of Friday’s game between third-seeded Duke and James Madison.
The Bulls are a familiar foe for the Eagles from when they met during the regular season in 2014 and having played multiple times in exhibition matches. The Eagles lost in Tampa by a 1-0 count in the only contest that counted a season ago.
“I think everyone’s excited about the draw,” said Eagles coach Jim Blankenship. “We’re close to home, our fans and Dirty Birds will get the chance to come up to see us play, our family and friends will be there so we’re excited for the opportunity.”
The Eagles open postseason play riding an eight-game win streak dating back to Oct. 4 and are unbeaten in their last 10 games. The team captured its sixth-straight Atlantic Sun regular season title with a 6-0-1 record in conference play. The Eagles had two convincing victories in the A-Sun Conference Championship and earned the league’s automatic bid with a 5-0 championship game win over Lipscomb last Sunday.
USF (15-3-3) earned its third overall and second straight NCAA Tournament appearance after a historic season. USF held a Top 25 ranking for the final six weeks of the season, finishing the year at No. 25.
“They’re a good team,” said Blankenship. “They’ve had a great season. They’ve been ranked for the majority of the season and they’ll be more than a handful for us, but we’re comfortable because we’ve seen them and we know this team pretty well.”
FGCU is 0-3 all-time in its three previous NCAA Tournament matches after having lost to Auburn at home last season.
In their third career NCAA Tournament game, seniors Ally Kasun, Brittany Brown, Emma Blackwell, Kaitlin Parker and Shea Rhoney look to lead the Eagles to the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory.