Birmingham - The FIU men's soccer team pulled off a monumental upset as they defeated No. 5 Southern Methodist University, 3-1 Wednesday afternoon in the opening match of the Conference USA Championship Tournament.
Powered by a second half offensive surge and stifling defense, the 7th seeded Golden Panthers came back from an early one goal deficit to eliminate the defending C-USA champions and 2nd seeded Mustangs.
“We gave up an early goal, but then everybody stepped it up,” said head coach Munga Eketebi. “Defensively we were solid. We didn't give up any penetration. And for a change, we scored goals.”
Sophomores Juan Guerra (Caracas, Venezuela) and Christian Caporaletti (Miami, Fla.) and freshman Steven Jair Cabas led the 2nd half offensive barrage that propelled FIU to its first victory over SMU since 1985. The win also marks the first for the Golden Panthers in the Conference USA Championship Tournament since joining the conference in 2005. Last season the Mustangs bounced the Golden Panthers from the conference tournament with a 6-0 thrashing.
The last time FIU defeated a ranked opponent came in 2004 when they defeated No.14 Hartwick College en route to an Atlantic Sun Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament Birth.
The Mustangs wasted no time getting ahead as Scott Geppert took a pass from Adrian Chevannes and shot into the lower right corner for a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute.
SMU out-shot FIU 7-5 and took seven corner kicks to FIU's two, but the Golden Panther defense once again stepped up to the challenge and kept hope alive by holding SMU's lead at one.
In the 55th minute, sophomore and First Team All-C-USA selection Juan Guerra beat an SMU defender and fired a shot past Mustangs keeper Steve Sandbo to pull FIU even.
The score would remain tied until the 75th minute when Ricardo Ferrer (Weston, Fla.) sent a pass to Caporaletti who unleashed a one-timer into the lower left corner to give FIU the 2-1 advantage.
Even without Third Team All C-USA defender and senior captain, Raoul Voss (Mulehim, Germany), who is lost for the rest of the season with a knee injury, the FIU defense kept the Mustangs at bay for the remainder of the match.
Steven Jair Cabas locked up the shocking upset when he tacked on a goal in the 86th minute. Cabas got behind the SMU defense and beat the Mustangs keeper to make the final score 3-1.
FIU junior keeper Kyle Thomas (Jensen Beach, Fla.) recorded seven saves in the contest.
“I told the guys, the whole year we've been really close,” said Eketebi. “The whole year we've been losing games by one goal. You've got 90 minutes.”
With the win, the Golden Panthers improved to 4-13-2 and will play the winner of the match between the No. 3 seed Kentucky and No. 6 Marshall, that match will take place on Friday at 5 p.m
