The FIU men's soccer team held a lead late in the final match of the C-USA Championship Tournament, but couldn't fend off the Golden Hurricane attack and fell 3-2 to the top-seeded and No.9 ranked Tulsa.
After falling behind in the first half, the Golden Panthers came back to take the lead in the second half. However, a depleted FIU defense couldn't hold the lead as the Golden Panthers' bid at another upset and an NCAA Tournament bid fell 10 minutes short.
FIU had the first real scoring chance of the match when Juan Guerra (Caracas, Venezuela) got deep into the right side of Tulsa's zone. The sophomore then sent a low cross to Bruno Barbosa (Miami, Fla) who one-timed it, but couldn't give it the proper touch and the shot sailed high.
In the 29th minute, Eric Burkholder gave Tulsa the lead when he beat an FIU defender one-on-one to create some space and fired a shot past Kyle Thomas (Jensen Beach, Fla.) for the 1-0 lead.
Bruno Barbosa made up for the previous missed opportunity when he took control of a free ball after an FIU corner kick and fired a shot towards the net and past the Tulsa keeper to equalize the score at the 38:20 mark.
The score remained knotted at one as they headed into the intermission. Tulsa held an 8-6 advantage in shots.
Steven Jair Cabas (Miami, Fla) had a chance to give FIU the lead in the 56th minute when he got behind the Golden Hurricane defense and took a low shot from right to left, but the attempt went just wide.
In the 60th minute, FIU's First Team All C-USA performer, Juan Guerra gave the Golden Panthers the lead when he controlled a free kick from Cory Kendall (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), immediately turned and fired a bending shot on goal that couldn't be stopped by Dominic Servi.
Todd Goddard tied things up in the 80th minute when he headed a cross from Burkholder and Kyle Thomas couldn't get his hands on the shot.
Christian Caporaletti (Miami, Fla.) nearly gave FIU a late lead when, in the 83rd minute, he took a dangerous shot on goal that was turned away by the Tulsa Keeper.
Fatigue seemed to finally catch up to FIU, who was missing defensive leaders Phill Fisher (Swindon, England) and Raoul Voss (Mulehim, Germany), as the Golden Hurricane re-took the lead in the 86th minute. Senior Eric Burkholder scored again by making a run at the net and taking a pass from Brian McCurdy before pounding it in for the 3-2 lead.
FIU couldn't muster anymore offense, as Tulsa held on to win their first C-USA Tournament Championship.
The Golden Panthers finish the season with a 5-14-2 record. FIU had earlier upset No. 5 SMU in the first round of the tournament before defeating Marshall 3-2 in overtime to reach the tournament final.
