FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men’s soccer team (1-0) continues its season-opening homestand with another marquee opponent as the Eagles face the University of Portland (1-0-1) at the FGCU Soccer Complex Thursday at 7 p.m. The matchup against the Pilots will be the first of two on the week for FGCU, which will host 2010 National Champion Akron Saturday night at 7.

SETTING THE STAGE
FGCU opened its highly-anticipated 2014 campaign last Friday night and came away with an impressive 2-0 win over rival USF. With the win over the Bulls – who have made seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances – FGCU catapulted up the national rankings this week, going from not receiving any votes in the preseason to being the first team outside the Top 25 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire National Poll.

The Eagles have 48 total points, just two behind No. 25 Clemson and 10 ahead of the next-closest team receiving votes, Akron. Portland is also receiving votes in the first poll of the season, presenting FGCU with one of its toughest home weekends in program history.

WHAT TO KNOW
September is Youth Soccer Month, so any youth wearing their soccer jersey at Thursday’s match will have the opportunity to win great prizes from Azul the Eagle’s Grab Bag. The game – presented by Tropical Smoothie – will be video streamed free of charge by visiting ASun.TV. FGCU students, faculty and staff are admitted free of charge with their Eagle ID, while adult tickets start at $6, a family pack (good for two adults and 3-5 children) is $18 and groups of 10 or more are $3. For additional ticket information, visit FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets.

Fans are encouraged to download the brand-new Wings Up mobile app in conjunction with SuperFanU prior to arriving at Thursday’s match. The fully-customized loyalty-rewards platform allows fans to check in at each of FGCU’s sporting events to earn points throughout the school year toward exclusive prizes that can’t be offered anywhere else.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the second all-time meeting between FGCU and Portland, with the first coming in the 2011 season on the West Coast as the two sides played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie as part of the Nike Invitational.

SCOUTING PORTLAND
The Pilots opened the season with a 1-0 win over UCF at the Nike Invitational last Friday night. Sophomore Geoffrey Dunn scored his first collegiate goal in the 37th minute and freshman goalkeeper Paul Christensen made six saves to record his first career shutout in his first game as a Pilot. Against Evansville on Sunday, senior Steven Corbett gave the Pilots the lead with his first goal of the year in the 59th minute, but the Purple Aces were able to equalize in the 64th minute as the two teams played to a 1-1 draw.

Freshman Erik Edwardson, who scored two goals during a 4-0 exhibition win over Linfield on Aug. 22, has assisted on both Portland goals this season. Sophomore Eddie Sanchez was named to the WCC Preseason All-Conference Team, while the Pilots – who have 13 newcomers joining 15 returning letterwinners – were picked to finish third in a vote by the league's head coaches. Sanchez was tops in the WCC last year in overall points (27), goals (12) and game-winners (4), and he ranked sixth nationally in goals per game (0.71), was 10th in points per game (1.59) and 13th in total goals en route to being named the 2013 WCC Freshman of the Year and landing on Soccer America’s All-Freshman First Team.

The Pilots, who will face USF on Sunday afternoon after battling FGCU, featured the most prolific offense in the WCC in 2013, leading the way with 33 goals and an average of 1.75 goals per game; UP was second in total assists (27), assists per game (1.35), total points (97) and points per game (4.85).

RECAPPING LAST WEEKEND
Junior Felipe DeSousa (Tampa, Fla./Wharton HS) set the FGCU career record for game-winning goals with his seventh when he converted a penalty kick in the 66th minute to give the Eagles the only goal they would need to defeat USF. The strike was the 14th overall for the lethal forward, who crossed his defender in the box and was taken down before finishing his PK low and inside the left post.

Then in the 87th minute, freshman Kamar Marriott (Frisco, Texas/Frisco Heritage HS) supplied the Green and Blue with an insurance strike after countering off a USF corner. Fellow freshman Nicolas Samayoa (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Colegio Valle Verde) started the breakout by playing a ball on the ground to classmate Derek Gebhard (Lutz, Fla./George Steinbrenner HS), who got behind the entire USF defense just into Bulls’ territory. From there FGCU had a 4-on-0 break, and Gebhard easily slid a pass across to Marriott who had a wide open net to complete the season-opening triumph.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For his effort in the shutout of USF, FGCU redshirt junior goalkeeper Nathan Ingham (Keswick, Ontario/Keswick HS) was named the Atlantic Sun Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week by league officials on Tuesday. Ingham made five saves – three in the first half and two more in the second – en route to his 11th career shutout and first since the 2012 season.

The honor was Ingham’s second of his career, and he became the first FGCU player to win the league’s Defensive Player of the Week award since he won it on Nov. 5, 2012. After starting four of the first five games last year, Ingham was forced to redshirt the remainder of the season with a concussion. Last year, FGCU didn’t record its first shutout until the non-conference finale eight games into the season.

DID YOU KNOW?
This is the first time FGCU has ever played back-to-back home games to open a season. Last Friday was just the second time in program history the Eagles have kicked off a campaign at home, with the other coming in 2011 versus FAU.

DEMANDING SCHEDULE
Head coach Bob Butehorn has assembled one of the most challenging non-conference dockets in program history as FGCU will face four NCAA Tournament participants from 2013, while the six other non-league opponents have made an astonishing 80 combined NCAA Tournament appearances. Portland has made 14 NCAA trips – including six since 2001 – and has been to the College Cup (semifinals) in both 1988 and 1995.

In a further testament to the strength of the schedule Butehorn has built, FGCU plays two of the current top-four teams in the nation. Louisville, ranked No. 2 this week, will square off against the Eagles on Oct. 14, while Washington, ranked No. 4 this week, comes to the FGCU Soccer Complex on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m.

PRESEASON POLLS AND TEAMS
FGCU — which returns all 11 starters and did not lose any players to graduation from the 2013 campaign — has been installed as the 2014 preseason league favorites along with Lipscomb. Additionally, five of the 13 Preseason All-A-Sun Team members hail from FGCU, led by Preseason Co-Player of the Year Rodrigo Saravia.

Joining defender Saravia (Guatemala City, Guatemala/College Internacional Montessori) on the all-conference team is fellow defender Aaron Guillen (El Paso, Texas/Coronado HS), midfielder Steven Oliveri (Stuart, Fla./Jensen Beach HS) and forwards DeSousa and Henry Penagos (Margate, Fla./American Heritage School of Boca). In another testament to the job Butehorn has done in developing talent, only Penagos is a senior, while the other four members are juniors.

A-SUN DOMINANCE
The Green and Blue has a 28-3-2 mark in A-Sun games since the start of the 2010 season. All three of its conference losses have come on the road, and out of a possible 99 points that could have been earned in that time, the Eagles have claimed an impressive 86 of them.

NEXT UP
FGCU will host 2010 National Champion and 2009 National Runner-Up Akron Saturday night at 7. The Zips – who were ranked No. 13 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire Preseason Poll – are 0-1 on the season after surrendering a goal in the 3rd minute and opening the year with a 1-0 loss at now-No. 6 New Mexico last Friday night. Akron plays at USF on Thursday night at 7:30.

For 2014 men’s soccer ticket information, visit the Alico Arena Ticket Office, call 239-590-7145 or log on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets. For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_MSoccer and Instagram @FGCU_MSoccer.