FT. MYERS, FLA. - Florida Gulf Coast dealt Campbell its first
Atlantic Sun Conference regular season men's soccer loss in over
two years Saturday as the Eagles claimed a 4-0 victory.
The Eagles (8-6-1, 6-2-0) ended the nation's longest unbeaten
streak in conference play taking the lead on a 16th minute penalty
and handing Campbell (6-8-1, 5-1-1) its worst A-Sun setback since a
6-1 loss at Florida Atlantic in 2002.
Campbell entered the game unbeaten in its last 18 A-Sun regular
season games (16-0-2). The defeat marked only the fifth time the
Camels have lost an A-Sun contest in the regular schedule over the
last five years (30-5-5).
"We were outplayed in every facet of the game, and that's a credit
to the quality of our opponent," said Campbell head coach Doug
Hess. "Mentally, we were too soft trying to find our feet after
giving up an early penalty. You can't win when you don't want to
compete. At this point, we need to regroup and learn from it. The
silver lining is that we still have everything to play for."
Jonathan Koshko put the Eagles in front from the penalty spot in
the 16th minute. The goal marked the first time that Campbell had
trailed in the last 451 minutes played against league foes.
Jelani Smith doubled the FGCU lead in the 24th minute on assists
from Jonathan Hohn and Cristian Raudales. The deficit was
Campbell's largest against league opposition this year.
Caleib Lynch added strikes in the 60th and 86th minutes for Florida
Gulf Coast, which moved past Campbell into first place in the A-Sun
standings with 18 points. FGCU, however, is not eligible for next
month's A-Sun Championship tournament while completing its
reclassification from the NCAA Division II to Division I ranks.
The Camels are now 16-1-2 in their last 19 league outings.
Campbell begins a three-match home stand Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
against North Florida. Victories over UNF and Jacksonville next
week would deliver the Camels their second-straight league regular
season title and the top seeding in next month's conference
tournament.
