The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles swooped up the win 2-1 against the UCA men’s soccer team in the Bears’ second-to-last regular ASUN match.
“It’s two good teams from the conference trying to get 3 points in the conference. It’s always a good match,” coach Frank Kohlenstein said.
FGCU (4-7-2, ASUN 3-1-1) scored its first goal nearly 19 minutes into the first period with a kick from senior forward Shoki Yoshida, assisted by junior midfielder Alon Drey. Junior defender Arber Shala scored the Eagles’ second goal 63 minutes into the game.
On the other side of the field, the Bears scored their only goal 24 minutes into the game with a penalty kick from junior forward Pietro Fontana.
In terms of attempted shots, the Eagles dominated the Bears in the first period, racking up 10 shots against UCA’s six.
Senior midfielder Sohma Ichikawa said, “We could have done much better — how we started the game. I think that’s been a huge problem for the past couple of games. We’ve got to be better at it to make the tournament.”
In the first period, the Bears (5-7-2, ASUN 2-3-1) and Eagles picked up three saves each, while FGCU took five corner kicks and 9 fouls. The Bears took three corner kicks and made only two fouls.
Kohlenstein said, “We played better in the second half than we did in the first so we’re always trying to get better.”
Although the Bears didn’t score another goal in the second period, they did garner nine shots, with a majority of their eight shots on goal coming from this half.
“[In the] Second half, we made good chances, but couldn’t score,” Ishikawa said. “Obviously they have the good defenders getting after the ball in the box — better than us — so that’s something we’re going to be better at.”
The Eagles saw a significant decrease in shots in the second period, falling from 10 to only 4.
“They [FGCU] actually had less chances in the end than we did, but they finished the goal,” Kohlenstein said.
In the second period, the Bears managed three saves against the Eagles two saves. UCA also took four corner kicks while FGCU only took one.
The Eagles dropped from nine fouls to four, whereas the Bears had five fouls in the second period — three fouls more when compared to the first period.
By the end of the game, FGCU took 14 shots and UCA took 15 shots. Eight of the Eagles’ shots were on the goal and six of the Bears’ were on goal.
Kohlenstein said, “When you’re down a goal, you’re just pushing a lot of players forward. What we need to be able to do is when we have those opportunities is finish those, so get it beyond their [FGCU] guys, so it goes in the net.”
The Bears will go face-to-face against the North Florida Ospreys at 6 p.m. Nov. 6 in Jacksonville, Florida.
“This is our last regular season game,” Ishikawa said. “It could be the last game for some of us in terms of a soccer career, especially the seniors. We gotta put everything we have into the game.”