D-II Round 1: San Marcos at FGCU

(Photo by Louis Murray)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – It’ll be interesting to see who emerges from this contest.

Cal State San Marcos is a high-flying, wide-open outfit with weapons galore. Florida Gulf Coast is molded in the traditional model of rugged defenses leading the way.

What shows out the best in the postseason?

San Marcos coach Teddy Hicks has built the Cougars into a relevant D-II program from basically nothing.

D-II Round 1: Cal State San Marcos at Florida Gulf Coast | https://t.co/aKdsj5gh3R #virtualmcla20
— MCLA Tournament '21 (@MCLA_Tournament) March 29, 2020

And it seems like he’s always got a stud up front. This year it’s freshman Tanner Peach, who is an outstanding quarterback for the Cougars. Rookie attackman Nick Pages and senior middie Jakob Ternes present problems for opposing defenses, as well.

It appears that San Marcos will roll with a goalie platoon of juniors Eddie Urban and Cam Sowka.

CSUSM will roll into Fort Myers looking to unseat an experienced FGCU group that is coming off a three-day set against Grand Valley State, Duluth and St. Thomas – basically the toughest weekend imaginable.

Sophomore attackman Jayson Andino, who dropped a hatty on GVSU, UMD and the Tommies, paces the Eagles offense and is aided by sophomore Ethan Knight and junior Connor McGraw.

Sophomore goalie Grant Shafer has held up well against some of the best offenses in the country.

“Put up or shut up,” said FGCU coach Vinny Valentine.

[*- The coach didn’t really say this. This is all made up. It’s fake]