Wacker’s Two Goals Lift Women’s Soccer Past ETSU, 2-1

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Sophomore Shannen Wacker’s (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa HS) two second half goals separated by just 85 seconds proved to be the difference as the FGCU women’s soccer team capped a strong opening weekend of Atlantic Sun play with a clutch 2-1 win at ETSU Sunday afternoon at Summers-Taylor Field.

“I’m very proud of the kids for their effort today. They fought back after the penalty kick and gave a great effort after being down by a goal” said head coach Jim Blankenship. “We played a quality team and the two big goals by Wacker gave us the victory.”

The Eagles improve to 7-2-2 on the season and 2-0 in A-Sun play, while ETSU drops to 7-3-0 and 1-1 in conference action. FGCU improved their all-time record against ETSU to 4-2, including four straight wins. FGCU, North Florida and Jacksonville all escaped the opening weekend of conference play with six points.

The first half was back-and-forth with little opportunities for both teams. FGCU held a 4-2 shot advantage, but when into intermission tied at 0-0.

The Buccaneers opened the scoring in the 63^rd minute when ETSU was awarded a penalty kick and left the duties up to Ramey Kerns, who ranks fifth in the nation in scoring and leads the A-Sun in points (23) and goals (10). Off the penalty kick, Kerns was able to beat freshman goalkeeper Brittany Brown (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena HS) to the right to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead. Brown did make five saves on six shots in 90 minutes of play.

The Eagles fought back and in the 75^th minute, freshman Kaitlin Parker (Palm Harbor, Fla./Clearwater Central Catholic HS) played the ball across the goal box to Wacker who beat the ETSU goalkeeper in the left side of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

A little over a minute later, freshman Ally Kasun (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield HS) played the ball to Wacker who had no problem beating the keeper for the eventual game-winner that made the score 2-1. Wacker’s pair of tallies push her season goal total to a team-best five, building on a freshman campaign that included the A-Sun Tournament MVP honor.

FGCU fought off the Buccaneers for the final 13 minutes of regulation to secure the team’s second 2-0 start to A-Sun play in the six-year history of the program. The Eagles are now 19-1-3 over their last 23 A-Sun games and concludes a six-game road swing in which they went 4-1-1.

The Eagles will return home next Friday, September 28, when they host Lipscomb (2-6-2, 0-2) at the FGCU Soccer Complex at 7 p.m.

– The FGCU Eagles are proud to be Southwest Florida’s Hometown Team and part of the A-Sun Conference with six men’s and nine women’s Division I intercollegiate programs. Ticket information for upcoming events is available by calling 239.590.7145. Additional results and schedule information are available at fgcuathletics.com. –

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