FORT MYERS, Fla. – Looking to extend the longest home league unbeaten streak in the nation, the FGCU men’s soccer team (5-5-3, 3-0-0 Atlantic Sun Conference) will host the University of North Florida (5-5-0, 2-2-0 A-Sun) Friday night at 7 in its annual Kick Pink Match as part of Coaches vs. Cancer.

THE STREAK
FGCU has not lost a home regular-season A-Sun game since 2008, a stretch of 24 in a row in which the Eagles are unbeaten (22-0-2). 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 2,194 days.

HELPING FIND A CURE
Pink FGCU T-shirts will be available for purchase for $10, with all proceeds going to support the American Cancer Society. Additionally, $1 raffle tickets to win gifts cards to local restaurants will also be available, once again with all proceeds going to help find a cure for cancer. Finally, a pink donation box will be at the entrance, and if at least $2,500 is donated between Friday and FGCU’s regular-season finale on Nov. 8, all men’s soccer team members will shave their heads for the A-Sun Championship Nov. 12-16.

WHAT ELSE TO KNOW
The game – presented by Beef ‘O’ Brady’s and Surety Construction – is a pinkout as well, with all fans in attendance encouraged to wear pink, in addition to supporting to the cause. The match will be video streamed free of charge by visiting ASun.TV or clicking on the link associated with this release. Live stats will also be available by following the attached link. 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 Friday’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 won’t be offered anywhere else.

SETTING THE STAGE
FGCU has won four-straight A-Sun regular-season championships and is in position to stretch that to five as the Eagles are currently in first place with 9 points. FGCU is tied atop the league ledger with Stetson (3-1, 9 points), however, the Green and Blue still have one game in hand over the Hatters, and also own a 1-0 head-to-head triumph earlier this year.

UNF has 6 points and is in fourth place, one point behind Lipscomb (2-1-1, 7 points). Jacksonville (1-2, 3 points), Northern Kentucky (0-2-1, 1 point) and USC Upstate (0-3, 0 points) round out the conference standings. Teams which have only played three league matches so far still have three remaining, while those which have played four have just two remaining.

Once again, the Eagles control their own destiny as the A-Sun lone unbeaten team in conference action. FGCU only needs to win two of its final three games to clinch the No. 1 seed and hosting responsibilities for the A-Sun Championship. Two wins – regardless of what any other team in the league does – clinches at least a share of the regular-season title for FGCU, but three wins (or two victories and one tie) will earn the program a record fifth-straight crown.

A-SUN DOMINANCE
The Eagles have an incredible overall record of 31-3-2 in all A-Sun regular-season games since the start of the 2010 season. All three of those conference losses have come on the road, and out of a possible 108 points that could have been earned in that time, the Eagles have claimed an impressive 95 of them.

SCOUTING UNF
FGCU will be looking to avenge a loss to UNF in the A-Sun Championship semifinals last year as the Ospreys defeated the Eagles on their home pitch, 2-1, to end the Green and Blue’s season. The Jacksonville-based school has not played in nearly a week as Lipscomb handed it a home loss last Saturday, 1-0. Prior to the loss, UNF had defeated USC Upstate, 3-0, and Jacksonville, 2-0, to bounce back from a league-opening setback at Stetson, 6-0.

Helge Pietschmann leads the Ospreys’ attack with 10 points coming on three goals and four assists. Simen Solstad is the team’s leading goal scorer with four, while Drew Spragg has three goals and two assists for seven points on the campaign. In net, Kyle Nasta and Tord Pedersen have split time as Nasta has appeared in five games and surrendered seven goals, while Pedersen has allowed nine goals in four contests.

SERIES HISTORY
FGCU owns a 7-1 all-time record against UNF, with the lone loss coming at the end of last season in the conference tournament. Overall, the Eagles have out-scored the Ospreys 25-3 in their seven wins, and 26-5 in the eight all-time meetings. FGCU ended the regular season last year with a 2-1 win over the UNF.

DEFENSIVE-MINDED
FGCU boasts the best defense in the A-Sun and one of the best defensive units in the entire nation. The Eagles lead the A-Sun in goals-against average (0.72), fewest goals allowed (10) and shutouts (5). Nationally, FGCU ranks 22nd in goals-against average.

Individually, Nathan Ingham (Keswick, Ontario/Keswick HS) has five shutouts to his name this year. His .821 save percentage easily leads the conference (no one else is even at .730), and he is the only goalie in the A-Sun with a goals-against average below 1.0 (next closest is 1.34 – a 0.62 difference). His  goals-against average is 26th in the nation, while his save percentage is also 26th in the country.

Looking closer at the goals FGCU has allowed this year, only three of the 10 have come in the regular run of play. The other seven have come in the form of an own goal, set-piece strike, two penalty kicks and three corners.

NOT FOR A LACK OF CHANCES
Junior Felipe DeSousa (Tampa, Fla./Wharton HS) leads the A-Sun in shots per game at 3.55, while sophomore and reigning A-Sun Freshman of the Year Isaiah Madrid (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS/Westminster) is third at 2.90. FGCU paces the league in shots (197) and shots per game (15.15), in addition to corners (68).

LAST TIME OUT
Henry Penagos (Margate, Fla./American Heritage School of Boca/Delray) scored a penalty-kick goal in the 55th minute, and Ingham did the rest in net by preserving the shutout as FGCU defeated visiting FAU by the score of 1-0 Tuesday night in a non-conference matchup. Penagos owns a perfect 4-4 mark in his career on PKs, and the finish set the FGCU career program record for penalty kicks made.

While he wasn’t tested often, Ingham made a game-saving stop with only 90 seconds to play as Kevin Byrne laced a shot from just outside the box which was ticketed for the underside of the crossbar before Ingham dove to his right and punched the ball out for a corner. The ensuing corner didn’t yield any substantial effort, and a few seconds later Ingham recorded his 15th career shutout, moving to within four of tying – and five of passing – Adam Glick’s career shutout record of 19.

RECORD SUPPORT
FGCU’s record-setting attendance year surpassed the 6,000-person mark on Tuesday with a crowd of 648. The 6,040 total home attendance through seven games is already the most for a single season in program history. The Eagles, who easily lead the A-Sun in attendance, eclipsed the previous all-time single-season record of 4,955 fans from 2011 on Oct. 4 against Stetson. FGCU still has at least two home matches remaining in the regular season, and would host the conference tournament if it earns the top seed.

The A-Sun’s seven members have a combined home attendance of 17,371 over 41 games this year, and FGCU is responsible for 35 percent of that total. The Eagles’ home attendance this year is nearly double their next-closest competitor (UNF – 3,108).

CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE
Due in large part to that record support was a grueling non-conference schedule for FGCU which head coach Bob Butehorn has called the most difficult in program history. Despite a .500 record, FGCU has an RPI of 93 – the highest among all A-Sun teams – as a result of the demanding non-league slate, which includes seven top-60 RPI programs and three top-25 RPI teams.

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.

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 > 4-1-0

Total: 13-17-9 > 37-10-3

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.

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)

NEXT UP
FGCU will have more than a week off before returning to action at league foe, and Preseason A-Sun Co-Favorite Lipscomb, next Saturday, Nov. 1, at 8 p.m. (7 Central). The match will be the final road conference test of the year for the Eagles, who will then play their final road game at UCF on Tuesday, Oct. 4. FGCU is back in action for the regular-season finale at the FGCU Soccer Complex in two weeks on Saturday, Nov. 8.

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.