The FGCU women’s soccer team earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory Saturday afternoon as the Eagles defeated the University of South Florida 2-1 in the first round at the Corbett Soccer Stadium in Tampa. The Eagles move to 14-5-2 on the season and advance to the second round, where they will face Duke on Friday, Nov. 20 in Gainesville, while No. 22 USF ends the season at 15-4-3.
After allowing an own goal in the second minute of the contest, the Eagles battled back and drew two penalty kicks later in the first half. Senior captain Shea Rhoney of Lithia, Fla., and junior Paulina Speckmaier of Miami converted penalty kicks in the fifth and 37th minutes, respectively, for the Eagles to take the lead before the break. Senior goal keeper Brittany Brown of Rochester, N.Y., made five saves for the Eagles as the Green and Blue held strong in the second half and earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament win.
“I am so incredibly proud of this team,” said head coach Jim Blankenship. “We went into this game saying, ‘Why not us?’, but we knew that we would have to go out and make that happen. I thought our team did a great job with that. Brittany Brown was unbelievable. The entire backline was under a tremendous amount of pressure, and they thrived with this opportunity. The team truly fights and battles for each other and I am so happy with the effort of our entire team.”
Overall, the Bulls outshot the Eagles 22-11 with six shots on goal, but Brown was up to the test and held USF scoreless in the second half. The Eagles produced 11 shots, including the two penalty attempts, from five different players, led by four strikes from senior Kaitlin Parker of Palm Harbor.
With the win, the Eagles became the third FGCU team to advance in an NCAA Tournament, joining the 2013 men’s basketball and 2015 women’s basketball teams. This is the women’s fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in five seasons of eligibility, having previously lost at Florida in 2011 and 2012 and falling to Auburn at home last year.
Earlier this month, the women won their fourth Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. More details at FGCU Athletics website.