FGCU Battles Jacksonville to 1-1 Tie

by Matt Judd

October 7, 2012

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Freshman Ally Kasun’s (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield HS) goal in the 65th minute helped the FGCU women’s soccer team earn a 1-1 tie with Jacksonville Sunday afternoon at the Ashley Sports Complex in Jacksonville, Fla.

In the 65th minute junior Kayley Clay (Cape Coral, Fla./Lynn) played a pass inside the box to Kasun who beat the Jacksonville goal keeper Jill D’Amico, to tie the game at 1-1 which would hold for the remainder of regulation and both overtime periods. It was Kasun’s fifth goal of the year which is second on the team behind sophomore Shannen Wacker (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa HS), who has 10.

“I’m pleased with the way the kids bounced back after Friday’s loss and being down 1-0 early in this game,” said head coach Jim Blankenship. “We had some moments where we could have pulled it off but we played well overall. Road games are not easy and we had some great opportunities, but the keeper made some big saves.”

FGCU moves to 9-3-3 and 4-1-1 in A-Sun action, while Jacksonville sits at 6-4-3 and 3-0-2 in conference play. The Green and Blue still sit atop the A-Sun with 13 points after the tie but are now tied with North Florida for first place. The Osprey beat the Eagles, 2-0 on Friday night to hand FGCU their first conference loss of the season.

This is FGCU's fourth-straight tie against the Dolphins. Since 2007, the Eagles are winless against Jacksonville at 0-2-4.

The Dolphins were the first to get on the scoreboard in the 38th minute when points-leader Marie Weckhurst fed a pass to Eva Leeper who was able to beat freshman keeper Brittany Brown (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena HS) to give the Dolphins a 1-0 lead going into halftime. Brown made six saves in the tie with the Dolphins.

No shots were taken in the first overtime period, which forced a second overtime. In the second overtime, the Dolphins came out fast with three shots which were all blocked. On their fourth attempt, Kaitlyn Bassett was able to get a shot on net, but Brown was able to make a stop on the shot. The Eagles had one opportunity in the final minute when freshman Kaitlin Parker (Palm Harbor, Fla./Clearwater Central Catholic HS) had an opportunity to win the game but D’Amico made the save on what could have been the game-winner.

Jacksonville held a 23-16 shot advantage over FGCU through 110 minutes of play.

The Green and Blue’s next game will be Saturday, October 13 when it returns to the FGCU Soccer Complex to take on Stetson at 7 p.m.