Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Tickets

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles
Playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference, Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (nick named: eagles) is a US mens soccer team representing the Florida Gulf Coast University. The university is a public four-year university located in Fort Myers, Florida, United States and is commonly referred to FGCU. On May 10, 2006, FGCU gained membership to the NCAA Atlantic Sun Conference effective when FGCU moved to Division I sports starting in the 2007-2008 academic year.

Apart from the mens soccer, other athletic teams at FGCU include baseball, men's cross country, men's basketball, men's golf, men's tennis, softball, volleyball, women's basketball, women's cross country, women's golf, women's soccer, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis.

With Florida Gulf Coast Eagles is in its first year as a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference. Bob Butehorn has been selected as the first-ever mens soccer head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. He has more than 16 years of coaching experience with NCAA Division I institutions. Butehorn joins FGCU after spending the past five seasons as an assistant coach for the mens soccer program at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also the head coach at Division I St. Bonaventure University from 1995-99. During his coaching career, Butehorn has served on the Atlantic-10 soccer committee, the NCAA Regional Selection Committee and the NSCAA Regional Ranking Committee for which he held the chairman position for two years. He is also a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and the United States Soccer Federation.

Eagles Inaugural Campaign
The Eagles finished their inaugural campaign with an 8-10-1 overall record, including wins over Coastal Carolina and UNLV. FGCU also earn a tie with A-Sun preseason favorite and eventual A-Sun Champion, Campbell. On August 31st, the Eagles opened their inaugural season at the CCU/Adidas Invitational. The starting lineup for 1st game consisted of (GK) Adam Glick, (D) Chris DiNapoli, (D) Matt OShaughnessy, (F) Colin Gill, (D) Arjun Jani, (M) Ben Foerstner, (M) Diego Meneses, (F) Anthony Forde, (D) Jonathan Koshko, (F) Matthew Piccoli, and (F) Taylor Sullivan

Season 2008
Florida Gulf Coasts first-ever mens soccer game was a winning one. The Eagles rallied from an early deficit against Coastal Carolina for a 3-2 victory. Trent Anderson came off the bench and assisted both of FGCUs second-half goals. Freshmen Adam Glick and Anthony Forde have been named to the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman Team the conference office announced on Nov. 13. Glick (Leola, Pa.) started all 19 of FGCUs games this season and was a catalyst for the Eagles on defense. Glick was named A-Sun Player of the Week two times during the regular season, while earning eight wins in goal, tallying four shutouts and posting 86 saves during the season. Glicks saves and shutout totals ranked him third in the A-Sun in both categories.

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Mens Soccer Roster
The 2007 NSCAA Florida High School Player of the Year, Cristian Raudales, has joined the 2008 Eagle soccer team and is already on campus and enrolled in classes this spring after graduating high school a semester early. Raudales is the first All-American high school student-athlete to play at FGCU. Raudales, a 2007 National Soccer Coaches Association of America First Team All-American and arguably Floridas best soccer player from the Class of 2008, has a very impressive resume. Only 80 high school players from around the country were selected to the 2007 NSCAA All-American First Team and Cristian is one of only two from Florida. Some of his other soccer accomplishments include; Player of the Year in Florida as Senior, three-time NSCAA Regional All-South First Team, two-time Bradenton Herald Player of the Year, and two-time All-County Team.

In addition to Cristian Raudales, Eagles current roster includes Adam Glick, Matthew O'Shaughnessy, Colin Gill, Arjun Jani, Ben Foerstner, Kyle Thompson, Angelo Restrepo, Ryan Fifi, Anthony Forde, Jonathan Koshko, Alex Cooper, John Pantuosco, Leandro Caputo, Trent Anderson, David Tuesta, Taylor Sullivan, Derek Miller, and Matt Levine.

Recently, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles also partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Each FGCU player was matched with a student at either Rayma C. Page Elementary or Bonita Springs Elementary as part of a program called Bigs in Schools. Every other week, the student-athletes met with their Littles, helping with class and homework assignments, playing educational games and talking about important values like teamwork, dedication and honesty. The fall semester has ended for FGCU students, but the mens soccer team will return to the Bigs in Schools program after the winter break.