The FGCU women's soccer team got a late goal from senior Grace Paradis (Kingston, N.H./Sanborn HS/St. John's) to take down Florida Atlantic, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at Pickering Field. Paradis just got her head on the ball in the 89th minute as the Eagles improved to 2-3 while the Owls fall to 2-2-2.
"Phenomenal result for us," said head coach Jim Blankenship. "We haven't gotten the results we've wanted, but I've been telling them to stay focused and that we are getting better each game. FAU is the best team we've played so far and our defense played great and we got rewarded for it at the end."
FAU had a 13-8 shot advantage, but in the second half, the Eagles outshot the Owls, 7-6, forcing more action in their offensive area. The Eagles also had a 7-3 edge in corner kicks including a 5-1 advantage in the second half.
The goal for Paradis was the first of the season for the senior and second in her FGCU career. Junior Leah Scarpelli (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial HS/Penn State) and graduate student Margaret Berry (Holly, Mich./Fenton HS/Boston University) helped shut down the Owls with their strong play on the back line, but also picked up assists on the goal.
In the net for the Green & Blue, graduate student Katie Sullivan (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North HS/Creighton) made a season-high six saves for her first shutout of the season.
The first half was controlled by the Owls as they took seven shots, forcing Sullivan to make four saves. They continued to push early in the second half as they had one of their best chances on breakaway in the 53rd minute, but Paradis made her defensive contribution of the day as she came back to knock the ball out of harm's way.
The tide started to turn after that and the Eagles had a great chance in the 70th minute as freshman Kendal Gargiula (North Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) received the ball with just the keeper to beat, but Lexi Gonzalez was up for the task and made a diving save.
With just a couple of minutes remaining in a scoreless contest, the Eagles had the momentum as they earned two corner kicks in the final six minutes. They finally broke through as Scarpelli sent a cross into the box where Berry got her head on the ball before Paradis redirected it with her head which proved to be enough to get it past Gonzalez with just 93 seconds remaining.
The Eagles will look to carry the momentum into their next contest on Thursday when they travel to Tallahassee to take on #9 Florida State. Kickoff against the defending national champions is set for 7 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up