By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

Coming off a successful start to the 2017 season by winning the Ohio State soccer tournament, there shouldn't be much surprise about the recent successes of the FIU men's soccer team.

After all the foundation for the Panthers soccer program was set several years ago when Kevin Nylen was an FIU assistant coach.

It was then that Nylen began recruiting what has become the talented nucleus of FIU soccer. Now as the Panthers head coach, Nylen is reaping what he gathered on the recruiting trail.

FIU won the Conference USA championship in 2015 under then-head coach Scott Calabrese and assistant Nylen. The Panthers reached the conference title game last season before losing to New Mexico.

Last weekend, FIU played to a tough draw against James Madison and shut out host Ohio State, 3-0. It was the type of games that the Panthers expected in the preseason.

"I saw a really good level of play in the scrimmages," said FIU goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux. "I was thinking if my teammates can do this in the regular season games that would be really good for us. We were going to have a very good team."

The Panthers did as Fauroux envisioned. C-USA Preseason Player of the Year Santiago Patino scored two goals over the weekend. The FIU defense limited Ohio State to just one shot on goal and Fauroux recorded his first clean sheet of the season. Fauroux also made three crucial saves to preserve the tie with JMU.

"We talked about living in the moment instead of looking at the big picture," said Nylen of the preseason talk he gave his team. "I think we'll be as competitive as anyone in the conference I really do. I expect the guys to work hard. The performances will come and I think it was evident with this past weekend."

The Panthers used 19 players against the Dukes on Friday and 17 players against the Buckeyes on Sunday. Nylen said that was by design to see a little bit of what his players can do.

FIU encountered some trouble with James Madison but then used that experience to dominate Ohio State to finish the weekend.

"JMU was very physical which created some adversity for us at times," Nylen said. "Sunday we were more aggressive. We were the aggressors. We dictated the game against Ohio State."

The results of last weekend and the last two years go back to the Panthers' familiarity with each other and Nylen.

"Kevin doesn't just recruit a player because he's great," Patino said. "He recruits them also because the player is a good person and good teammate and that shows in the team chemistry. Kevin wants us to be confident in our game, to press and not fear any team. He believes in us and we feel like we can beat any team in the country."