Matchup: #12 FGCU (9-2-1, 1-0-0 ASUN) vs. Stetson (3-6-2, 1-2-0 ASUN)
When: Friday, Oct. 14 | 7 PM | Fort Myers, Fla.
Links: Tickets | Video | Live Stats | Twitter
Coaches: Bob Butehorn (10th Season @ FGCU, 90-60-22; 14th Overall, 124-92-26) | Jared Vock (3rd Season @ Stetson; Interim Head Coach In 2016)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Looking to extend the nation’s longest winning streak and start ASUN Conference play 2-0, the #12 FGCU men’s soccer team welcomes in-state foe Stetson to the FGCU Soccer Complex for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday.

OPENING KICK
In addition to boasting the longest active winning streak in the country at nine in a row, FGCU possesses the nation’s most potent offense. The Eagles lead the nation in goals (38, next closest: 29), points (106, next closest: 97), goals per game (3.17, next closest: 2.42) and points per game (8.83, next closest: 8.08).

Stetson has not played in nearly two weeks, dating back to a 1-0 loss at NJIT on Oct. 1. The Hatters and Eagles only have NJIT and FAU as common opponents to this point of the year, with FGCU claiming a 4-1 victory over the Highlanders and Stetson losing to the Owls, 3-1, while FGCU defeated FAU, 5-1.

WHAT TO KNOW
Pinkout: Pink FGCU T-shirts will be available to purchase for $10. Proceeds go to support Coaches vs. Cancer.
First Responders’ Night: All first responders and military members (with ID) are admitted free of charge.
Rally Towel: All fans will receive a free STOMP STETSON white rally towel.

DID YOU KNOW?
FGCU owns the longest home conference regular-season unbeaten streak in the nation at 28 straight (25-0-3). The Eagles have not lost a home ASUN regular-season game in nearly eight years, dating back to a 2-0 defeat against Jacksonville in October of 2008 – the program’s second season.

ASUN DOMINANCE
The Eagles own a dominant 37-4-4 record in all ASUN regular-season games since the start of the 2010 season. All four of those losses have come on the road, and out of a possible 135 points that could have been earned in that time, the Green and Blue have claimed an impressive 115 of them (85.2 percent) en route to an unprecedented six-straight ASUN regular-season titles.

STREAKING
With its 3-2 win over I-75 rival USF on Tuesday, FGCU set the program record for longest winning streak. The current nine-game stretch is one better than the 2010 and 2012 teams and two better than any other club in the nation currently.

ASUN RESET
FGCU is one of just two teams (North Florida) to have only played one ASUN match to this point of the year. The Eagles were scheduled to play at Jacksonville last Saturday, but Hurricane Matthew forced the game’s postponement. Below is a look at the current ASUN standings (each team will play six league matches).

Team	Pts.	Rcd.
NJIT	6	2-1-0
Lipscomb	6	2-2-0
FGCU	3	1-0-0
North Florida	3	1-0-0
Jacksonville	3	1-2-0
Stetson	3	1-2-0
USC Upstate	3	1-2-0

ONE FOR THE OTHER THUMB
By virtue of a 4-0-1 ASUN record last year, FGCU claimed an unprecedented sixth-straight ASUN Regular-Season Championship and will be looking to extend that run to seven in 2016. Despite only joining the league and becoming a Division-I member in 2007, FGCU was the first program in the history of the ASUN to claim at least a share of five-straight regular-season titles, let alone six in a row.

ALL-TIME vs. STETSON
After Stetson won three-straight one-goal games against FGCU from 2007-09, the Eagles won three in a row to tie the all-time series at 3-3 until a loss in DeLand in 2013. FGCU has bounced back with a 1-0 double-overtime triumph at the FGCU Soccer Complex in 2014, and a 2-0 clean sheet at Stetson last year. The Eagles lead the all-time series over the Hatters, 5-4.

SCOUTING THE HATTERS
Luke Ferreira leads Stetson offensively with four goals and three assists. Despite not playing in almost two weeks, senior goalkeeper Paul Ladwig still leads the ASUN with 63 saves. In addition to its 1-0 setback at NJIT, the Hatters also dropped a 2-0 conference decision at Lipscomb, but defeated USC Upstate, 2-1.

OFFENSIVE STALWART
Junior Albert Ruiz (Barcelona, Spain/ CE L’Hospitalet/UE Cornella) is tied for the 2nd-most goals in the nation this year with 11. His 1.0 goals-per-game average and 2.42 points-per-game average are both the best in the country. Both the goal and point totals (25) are already single-season program records as the previous highs were 17 and seven, respectively. Additionally, Ruiz is tied for the FGCU career record for points (43, Cristian Raudales) and goals (19, Raudales). Career and season records are included at the end of the release.

With the exception of teammate Arion Sobers-Assue’s (Miami, Fla./DeMatha Catholic HS) eight goals, Ruiz has four more goals than anyone else in the ASUN this year. Additionally, his 25 points are eight more than any other player in the league, again with the exception being Sobers-Assue’s 18.

NATIONAL RANKING
The Eagles are ranked #12 for the second-straight week in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 Poll. FGCU is also ranked #20 in the Soccer America Top 25 Poll and #22 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top 25 Poll. FGCU entered the NSCAA poll – the only poll the NCAA officially recognizes – for the second time in program history on Sept. 27 at #15.

MORE AWARDS
For the first time in conference history, a team has secured four-straight ASUN Player of the Week honors in men’s soccer as FGCU collected its fourth in a row on Monday when Shak Adams (Antioch, Tenn./Cane Ridge HS) garnered the award for the first time. The freshman scored his first two career goals, including the game-winner, in the Green and Blue’s 4-1 comeback victory at FIU Tuesday in its lone match last week.

It continues an award-winning season for FGCU, which has already this year claimed all of the below individual honors:

Sept. 19: Albert Ruiz, ASUN Player of the Week
Sept. 19: Sawyer Jackman, ASUN Defensive Player of the Week
Sept. 19: Albert Ruiz, College Soccer News National Player of the Week
Sept. 20: Albert Ruiz, TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week
Sept. 26: Arion Sobers-Assue, ASUN Player of the Week
Sept. 27: Arion Sobers-Assue, NSCAA National Player of the Week
Sept. 27: Arion Sobers-Assue, TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week
Oct. 3: Albert Ruiz, ASUN Player of the Week
Oct. 4: Albert Ruiz, TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week
Oct. 10: Shak Adams, ASUN Player of the Week

RECORD NIGHTS
On Sept. 27 at Rutgers, Ruiz scored all three of his goals by the 9:02 mark, and is believed to have recorded the fastest hat trick – in terms of time from the start of the game – in NCAA D-I history. The junior scored at the 5:42, 8:24 and 9:02 marks. The previous record is believed to have been held by Indiana’s Steve Burks, who tallied three goals 11:41 into a contest with Indiana State on Oct. 6, 1973.

With 3:20 between the first and third goals, Ruiz is the 3rd-fastest player to score three-straight goals at any point of a game in D-I history. He is bettered only by Illinois-Chicago’s John Stone, who did it in 2:15 (28:58-31:13) in 1985, and Saint Joseph’s Kyle Patterson in 2:31 (28:02-30:33) in 2007.

In addition to Ruiz’s three goals, Sobers-Assue also scored at the 9:21 mark, giving the Eagles three goals as a team in a span of just 57 seconds. That is the 2nd-fastest in NCAA D-I history at any point of a game, behind only Syracuse’s 43-second span versus Fordham on Oct. 17, 1989.

The Eagles found a way back into that incredible, historical list again on Tuesday night when FGCU scored three goals in a 3:47 span to erase a 1-0 deficit against USF. Those goals came at the 66:03, 66:59 and 69:50 marks, ranking as the 15th-fastest in D-I history for a three-goal span by the same team.

HAT TRICK PARTY
Ruiz is the first player in program history with two hat tricks, and it took just 10 days between them. The first men’s soccer season at FGCU was 2007, and it took until Oct. 31, 2010, for a Green and Blue member to record a hat trick when Scott Harrison finally did it versus North Florida. Nearly six years went by before another occurred, and that happened with Ruiz against UNCW on Sept. 17. It then took just three more days for the third hat trick in program history to occur as Sobers-Assue netted three opposite FAU on Sept. 20.

ANIMO, THOMAS
FGCU lost freshman central defender Thomas Delplace (Toulouse, France/Scientific Bac) for the year with a broken leg suffered just more than three minutes into the Eagles’ match at UCF on Sept. 14. Delplace cut across the box and legally challenged what would have been a quality Knights’ scoring chance, but his shin collided with the attacking UCF player’s leg.

In honor of their teammate, FGCU players have started to wear T-shirts in pre-game warmups with text that reads “Animo Thomas” – which translates to “Cheer Up, Thomas” in Spanish.

NEXT UP
FGCU continues its four-game homestand with a marquee showdown against North Florida (5-3-1) on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. The Ospreys were tabbed for a 2nd-place finish in the league’s preseason poll – just four points behind the Eagles – and with two 1st-place votes had the same as FGCU and Lipscomb.

FGCU Career Records

	GOALS				POINTS
1	Albert Ruiz (14-16)	19		1	Albert Ruiz (14-16)	43
	Cristian Raudales (08-11)	19			Cristian Raudales (08-11)	43
3	Felipe DeSousa (12-14)	18		3	Felipe DeSousa (12-14)	38
4	Henry Penagos (10-14)	13		4	Josey Portillo (08-11)	31
5	Scott Harrison (08-11)	12		5	Scott Harrison (08-11)	30
					Francesco DiStefano (08-11)	30

FGCU Single-Season Records

	GOALS				POINTS
1	Albert Ruiz (2016)	11		1	Albert Ruiz (2016)	25
2	Arion Sobers-Assue (2016)	8		2	Arion Sobers-Assue (2016)	18
3	Albert Ruiz (2015)	7		3	Deion Jones (2010)	17
	Felipe DeSousa (2012)	7			Scott Harrison (2008)	17
	Cristian Raudales (2011)	7		5	Albert Ruiz (2015)	16
	Deion Jones (2010)	7

TICKET INFORMATION
Single-game tickets are available for all remaining home games. More information, including special discounts and group rates, can be accessed by visiting FGCUTickets.com. To purchase tickets, or for additional inquiries, call the FGCU Ticket Office at 239-590-7145 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. or log on to FGCUTickets.com.

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU men’s soccer program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_MSoccer, Instagram @FGCU_MSoccer, Facebook /FGCUMSoccer and YouTube /FGCUAthletics.

COACH BUTEHORN
FGCU is led by Bob Butehorn, who has coached six professional players and 54 ASUN All-Conference selections since FGCU started its program in 2007. In just five years of postseason eligibility, Butehorn has guided FGCU to three ASUN Tournament championships and NCAA Tournament appearances – in 2011, 2012 and 2014 – and has won an unprecedented six-straight ASUN regular-season championships. His teams have been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets. Now in his 14th season as a head coach, Butehorn has a 124-92-26 (.566) overall record, 90-60-22 (.587) mark in his 10th season at FGCU and 49-17-6 (.722) record in ASUN contests.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics’ charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.