FGCU: Hockey club enjoying turnaround

Last year, the FGCU hockey club went 4-11, mainly because the small 12-man roster ran out of gas late in games.

This season, with 16 players at his disposal, coach Don Awrey has the Eagles at 6-2 following a tough 6-5 loss to the University of South Florida over the weekend in Brandon.

"We went down 2-0 right off the bat and were able to scratch our way back," Awrey said. "We got to 5-5 but they scored to go ahead with about seven or eight minutes to go in the game. We feel as if we'd have been a little bit more prepared, we'd have been fine."

Awrey credited the seasoning of returning players Chris Cartier, Matt Hayes and Nick Wichmanowski and an influx of new talent for FGCU's strong start.

"We've got some quality players we've added as freshmen," Awrey said. "We have a little more depth than we did last year. Last year, we'd be in games and then just run out of steam."

The Eagles are in second place in the College Hockey South, trailing only USF. FGCU gets a chance at revenge Friday night at TECO Arena when the Eagles host the Bulls at 8:30 on the Blue Rink.

Despite a pair of losses to Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan in the Saint Leo Classic, women's basketball coach Karl Smesko saw some good things.

Namely, guards Megan Jones and Candy Myers actually playing.

Both had been hobbled by leg injuries during practice, but Jones recovered to play more than 30 minutes against Lake Superior State and a half against Northern Michigan. Myers, not quite at 100 percent, managed to start both games.

And the Eagles are getting healthier. At least a little. The team actually practiced with nine players Monday night in preparation for Wednesday's home opener against Puerto Rico-Mayaquez.

The news wasn't all good.

Junior transfer Ebonie Haliburton will miss the entire season with a stress fracture in her leg.

Haliburton, a guard, will apply for a medical redshirt.

The loss of Haliburton and injuries to his other guards forced Smesko to move junior forward Noreen McCallum out to the perimeter.

"There were a couple of times we asked her to bring the ball up and that's not really her thing," Smesko said. "But she has to do some different things for us right now."

Six weeks ago, the FGCU wrestling club didn't even exist.

On Nov. 8, seven members competed at the University of Central Florida Open in Orlando.

The club was only officially recognized by the university last month, and the school promptly gave the team $16,900 to get started.

"We got everything we asked for," said club president John Salo, a freshman at FGCU. "We made it clear stuff we asked for is a necessity, like the mats and warm-ups and singlets."

No Eagle wrestler advanced to the finals, but Salo said it had more to do with conditioning than skill.

"We were too out of shape," Salo said. "We haven't practiced as much as we wanted. But this is a good way to get guys motivated."

Need any further proof that men's junior shooting guard Ryan Hopkins is a feel player?

While enduring a horrid first half in FGCU's 66-61 exhibition loss to Florida Atlantic last Tuesday during which he went 0-for-8 from the field, Hopkins took off the blue undershirt he was wearing underneath his blue number 23 jersey.

"It was one of those new ones and it was kind of sticking to me," Hopkins said. "I'm usually cold when I first go out there, but it was really bothering me."

Hopkins, by the way, found his stroke in the second half, scoring all of his 14 points -- including four 3-pointers -- to lead a spirited rally by the Eagles.

The early signing period ends Wednesday. As expected, the softball team added Bishop Verot senior first baseman Hillary Johnson.

Johnson hit .448 with four home runs and 32 RBIs for the Vikings last year and was named to the Class 3A first team last spring.

The men's basketball team signed Port Charlotte senior guard Yavney Neptune on Monday. Neptune enters his senior season at Port Charlotte with a 13.8 points per game scoring average and 342 assists.