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Win puts FGCU second in A-Sun

By Staff | Oct 22, 2011

Junior Andres Navas’ goal in the 68th minute broke a 1-1 tie and sent the FGCU men’s soccer team to a 2-1 Atlantic Sun victory over Lipscomb Friday night at the FGCU Soccer Complex.

Navas’ game-winning goal is his second of the season. The Eagles earned three valuable points in the A-Sun standings while improving to 7-4-2 on the season. With the win, FGCU (4-1) takes over sole possession of second place in the A-Sun, moving ahead of Lipscomb (4-10-2, 3-3), and increased its A-Sun home unbeaten streak to 13 games (12-0-1).

The pace of play belonged to the Eagles, evident by their 17-5 shot advantage. Their fast-paced attack broke through in the latter seconds of the 19th minute when freshman Xavier Silva was hauled down in the box, resulting in a penalty kick.

Senior Cristian Raudales buried the shot in the left half of the net for his team-leading fifth goal and a 1-0 FGCU lead. The penalty kick goal is the third (3-3) of his career and his program-leading 17th tally.

Despite possessing the ball for a majority of the opening half, FGCU gave up just its second shot of the frame with 19 seconds left, but it resulted in a well-played transition goal for the Bisons that tied the score at 1-1.

Lipscomb nearly took its first lead of the game in the 52nd minute when defenseman Kevin Barbar worked his way toward the middle of the box and used his height to head a shot right on net. The ball appeared to be heading into the left side, but was cleared off the line by junior Deion Jones.

The Eagles finally broke through at the 67:46 mark on Navas’ third goal of the season. Senior Josey Portillo (Metairie, La./Grace King HS) added his team-leading sixth assist to start the play.

Women: The FGCU women’s soccer team remains unbeaten in Atlantic Sun play after a goal in the 63rd minute by senior Olivia Elias to shut out Mercer 1-0. The Eagles are a perfect 8-0 in Friday night games.

The Eagles earned their ninth straight shutouts and 11th shutout of the year to improve to 12-3-2 overall and 7-0-1 in the A-Sun. FGCU has an unbeaten streak of 21 games (18-0-3) in conference action that dates back to the end of the 2009 campaign.

With a victory or tie against Belmont Sunday the Eagles can clinch their second straight A-Sun regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in their first-ever Atlantic Sun Tournament appearance. As the No. 1 seed, FGCU would receive a bye in the quarterfinal round and play host to the A-Sun semifinals and championship game.

FGCU scored the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute, when senior Danielle Faller made a pass to teammate Gina Petracco, who played a nice through ball to Elias for the game-winner. It is Elias’ sixth goal of the season and team-leading third game-winning goal.

The Eagles held a 10-1 shot advantage over the 90 minutes of action, including six shots on goal. Senior keeper Stephanie Powers posted her 30th career shutout and is now the all-time leader in A-Sun history.