The Number 1 FGCU Eagles women’s basketball team is headed to Kearney, Nebraska after winning last night in front of a record crowd of more than 4000 fans at Alico Arena.

The Eagles face North Dakota State next Wednesday. This is the farthest any FGCU athletic program has advanced. If the team wins, it heads to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

Head Coach Karl Smesko says name recognition coming from the winning team makes it easier to recruit.

“You know our university’s getting national recognition for academics. And then our athletic programs are helping get the name out there a little bit more. So now when we call recruits, especially in Florida, and we say hey we’re from Florida Gulf Coast they know who we are now. Before we were explaining to them who we are. So the name recognition is definitely been increasing every year. Now it’s very rarely that we have to explain to somebody where we’re at, or who we are, or how long we’ve been around. We’re starting to get ourselves established.”

This is only the fifth year for the basketball program at FGCU.

The South Regional Tournament is the last NCAA Division II championship the FGCU women's team will pursue because the school will move to Division I and join the Atlantic Sun Conference next season. Then, the school can’t pursue a national title until 2010.