ORLANDO, Fla. – With just two regular-season matches remaining, the FGCU men’s soccer team (5-6-4) will conclude its non-conference slate Tuesday night at 7 when the Eagles travel to UCF (2-9-5) for the Knights Senior Night.

SETTING THE STAGE
FGCU is coming off a 2-1 loss at Lipscomb on Saturday night. The setback for the Eagles was just the fourth in Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season action since the 2010 season as the Green and Blue are an incredible 31-4-3 in that timeframe. All four of those conference losses have come on the road, and out of a possible 114 points that could have been earned in that time, the Eagles have claimed 96 of them.

The game is the final regular-season match for UCF, which will travel to Dallas later this week to face SMU in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference Championship. The Knights, who went 1-3-4 in AAC play, received the No. 6 seed in the tournament which will hold its semifinal and final rounds on UConn’s campus in Storrs next Friday and Sunday, Nov. 14 and 16.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The game will be video streamed through UCF’s subscription-based service, and live stats will also be available. Both links can be found at the top of this release and on the men’s soccer schedule page on FGCUAthletics.com. Additional updates will be provided on Twitter by following the official account of the program @FGCU_MSoccer.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday’s game will be just the fourth all-time between FGCU and UCF with the series knotted up at 1-1-1. The two in-state foes first met in the regular season in 2011 when the Knights were ranked No. 8 in the nation and the Eagles defeated them on the road, 2-1. FGCU then returned to Orlando later that season as the two sides faced off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, with UCF claiming a 1-0 triumph in double overtime. The two sides played the following year in 2012 at the FGCU Soccer Complex and finished with a 2-2 draw.

SCOUTING UCF
UCF has gone 1-0-1 over its past two games following a 0-7-4 stretch in 11 games prior. The Knights defeated Cincinnati, 3-2, on Oct. 25 and tied Tulsa, 1-1, Saturday. Their lone other victory this year came against FAU, 1-0, on Sept. 5. UCF and FGCU have played six common opponents this year: Portland, Akron, North Florida, FIU, USF and FAU. UCF is 1-5-0 against that group, while FGCU is 2-1-3.

The Knights have scored 15 goals on the year, and seven of them have come from junior Romario Williams, who is also responsible for nearly half of UCF’s 35 points (17). Williams, a candidate for the Hermann Trophy (college soccer’s best player), was named The American Preseason Player of the Year after registering 10 goals and two assists last season.

CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE
UCF is the final opponent in a grueling non-conference schedule for FGCU which head coach Bob Butehorn has called the most difficult in program history. Despite a sub-.500 record, FGCU has an RPI of 116 – the second-highest among all A-Sun teams (Lipscomb, 87) – as a result of the demanding non-league slate, which includes eight top-100 RPI programs, six top-65 and three top-30 RPI teams: (No. 11 Washington, No. 27 Akron, No. 29 Louisville, No. 45 USF, No. 56 San Francisco, No. 64 Saint Mary’s, No. 76 Brown and No. 98 FIU).

FGCU has always played a challenging non-conference schedule, and as it has shown the Eagles have used that to prepare for the league slate. Of the 10 non-conference opponents FGCU has faced already, five were either nationally ranked or receiving votes in the national poll, while four others had defeated nationally-ranked teams. UCF has made five NCAA Tournament appearances since 2002.

Below is FGCU’s record each season since 2010 before playing its first conference game and then its record for the remainder of the season following its first league contest:

2010: 4-2-2 > 10-1-1
2011: 3-2-2 > 9-4-0
2012: 3-4-1 > 8-2-1
2013: 2-5-1 > 6-2-1
2014: 1-4-3 > 4-2-1
Total: 13-17-9 > 37-11-4

Some of those opponents following FGCU’s first A-Sun match were not conference foes, but the Eagles have clearly used the non-league slate to help pave the way to their four-straight A-Sun regular-season championships.

LAST TIME OUT/A-SUN RESET
Lipscomb took a 1-0 lead at the 17:54 mark of a crucial A-Sun matchup Saturday night in Nashville, but Henry Penagos (Margate, Fla./American Heritage School of Boca/Delray) answered right back for FGCU at the 18:15 mark to knot the contest at 1-1. However, the game-winning goal came off the foot of Lipscomb’s Ivan Alvarado with just more than 30 minutes remaining as the Bisons moved into a tie with FGCU for second place in the A-Sun standings with 10 points (both teams are 3-1-1).

With the loss, FGCU no longer controls its own destiny to host the A-Sun Championship Nov. 12-16 as the Eagles and Bisons are both just two points behind current league leader Stetson with 12 points. However, Lipscomb and FGCU both have one conference match remaining while the Hatters completed their league slate thus past Saturday with a 1-0 double-overtime loss at Northern Kentucky.

FGCU can still earn its record fifth-straight A-Sun regular-season championship and subsequent tournament hosting responsibilities with a win at home this Saturday, Nov. 8, against USC Upstate and a Lipscomb loss or tie at Jacksonville (also Saturday at 7 p.m.). If FGCU and Lipscomb both win their final matches and conclude the season with 13 points, the Bisons will host the tournament as a result of Saturday’s head-to-head victory. If neither FGCU nor Lipscomb win (or if they both tie), Stetson will win the regular season with 12 points.

THEY’RE BACK
FGCU scored 27 goals last season, and all 27 were from players who returned this year. The 100-percent return rate is the best in the country, tied with SIU Edwardsville which only scored 14 goals in 2013.

Highest Pct. of Goals Returning

1.    FGCU – 100.0 (27/27)

       SIU Edwardsville – 100.0 (14/14)

3.    Evansville – 97.1 (33/34)

4.    Syracuse – 96.7 (29/30)

5.    North Carolina – 89.5 (17/19)

6.    Missouri State – 88.2 (15/17)

7.    Virginia – 86.6 (39/45)

       Buffalo – 86.6 (13/15)

9.    NJIT – 84.0 (21/25)

       Duke – 84.0 (21/25)

11.  FIU – 81.5 (22/27)

12.  UAB – 81.4 (35/43)

13.  Cincinnati – 81.3 (13/16)

14.  Connecticut – 80.6 (29/36)

15.  South Carolina – 80.0 (20/25)

THE STREAK
FGCU has the longest home regular-season conference unbeaten streak in the nation. FGCU has not lost a home regular-season A-Sun game since 2008, a stretch of 25 in a row in which the Eagles are unbeaten (22-0-3). Included in that run is a 19-game winning streak, which was snapped in the second-to-last match last year when the Green and Blue tied Mercer, 0-0. FGCU’s last home regular-season A-Sun loss came to Jacksonville, 2-0, on Oct. 19, 2008 – an incredible stretch of 2,202 days.

FOLLOW ALONG
For 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.

COACH BUTEHORN
FGCU is led by Bob Butehorn, who has coached 30 A-Sun All-Conference selections since FGCU started its program in 2007. In just three years of postseason eligibility, Butehorn has guided FGCU to the NCAA Tournament twice – in 2011 and 2012 – and has won an unprecedented four-straight A-Sun regular-season championships. His teams have been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets, and in 2013 he won his 100th career game.

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.