By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

It has been an historic season for the FIU men's soccer team that the Panthers hope to continue when they host Omaha in a first round NCAA Tournament game Thursday night.

FIU won its first regular season Conference USA title in the 13 years the Panthers have been a member of the league. FIU won the conference tournament championship two years ago.

The Panthers will also host their first NCAA Tournament game since a 1-0 loss to Central Florida in 2004 at FIU. That season FIU was a member of the Atlantic Soccer Conference.

Thursday will also mark the 19^th NCAA soccer tournament appearance for FIU as both a Division I and Division II member with the acme coming in 1982 and 1984 when the then-FIU Sunblazers won the Division II national championship in each of those seasons. FIU lost in the NCAA Division I soccer national championship game against St. John's in 1996.

FIU wouldn't mind going down those championship roads again but first the Panthers had to battle through the 2017 regular season.

The Panthers have had some exhilarating moments thus far this season and some other instances when their mettle was tested.

It all started back on opening weekend in Ohio at the Ohio State Wolstein Classic that the Panthers won after playing to a tie against James Madison and knocking off the host Buckeyes 3-0.

"You really don't know what you have until you take the field for that opening weekend," said FIU soccer coach Kevin Nylen. "After seeing them win that opening weekend you could see their faces and how emotional, really excited they were. That continued to carry forward."

The momentum was temporarily halted when Hurricane Irma approached Miami. The Panthers had their conference opener against Old Dominion postponed and the team was displaced.

FIU hopped on a bus for a long journey to Birmingham, Alabama to escape the hurricane, not knowing when they would return home.

"We were together for 10 days in Birmingham," Nylen said. "That was a really important time for the group. We only played one game but we were together for 10 days. We took a bus for 24 hours from here to Birmingham all day through the night."

During those 10 days in Alabama the Panthers trained, kept a close eye on developments back home and eventually defeated UAB 2-1.

"That was a time where you look and you say we found a way," Nylen said. "We were faced with a little bit of adversity at different levels and we came out on top."

FIU won four of its next five games with a tie against Charlotte during the stretch until the Panthers were challenged again.

At Florida Gulf Coast, FIU had to overcome not only a deficit but do so undermanned against an Eagles team that handily defeated them a year ago in Miami.
Down 3-1 in the 60^th minute and down a man in the last 25 minutes, FIU tied the score in the final 30 seconds of regulation. The Panthers broke through when Alessandro Campoy scored the game-winning goal with eight seconds left in double overtime.

"You say to yourself this team has grit, they have desire, a competitive edge," Nylen said of the way his team came back against FGCU. "They may bend but they are not going to break. We went on the road in October for three straight games: at FGCU, at South Carolina, at USF and got three wins. That was a really defining moment and then we are able to come home and play two massive conference games."

FIU outscored New Mexico and Old Dominion by a combined 7-1 in the two home wins before tying Kentucky in the regular season finale.

The Panthers then had a 12-day break before falling to Charlotte in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament. The undefeated season for FIU ended with the loss but there may have been a silver lining in defeat.

"As ultra-competitive as a coach and as our players are you never want to lose," Nylen said. "But the loss took pressure off the team. The guys now have a taste of defeat before the NCAA Tournament. The guys don't have to worry with keeping undefeated. Just go play and that's what they do best. As hard as it was losing to Charlotte I also think it's a blessing. I truly believe that and these guys will respond. I know that they will because that's the kind of character we have in the group."