Junior Maria Gualdron (Miami, Fla.) scored one goal and assisted on another as the FIU Women's soccer team notched its first victory of the season, beating Binghamton University two goals to one.
The Golden Panthers (1-1-1) were coming off an 11 day layoff, and perhaps showed signs of rust as Binghamton (0-3-1) took the early lead when Tricia Reed let off a shot from 30 yards out that was deflected by FIU goalkeeper Madeline Gannon (Ft. Myers, Fla.) and then ricocheted off the left pole and found the back of the net.
"I needed to be more focused," said Gannon about the goal she allowed. "I made a rookie mistake, but my team got me through it."
The Golden Panthers had a great opportunity to tie things up in the 57th minute when senior Kristin Hurst (Miami, Fla.) sent a low pass across the box to freshman Claudia Cardenas (Visalia, Cali.), who then fired a shot only to be denied by the Binghamton keeper.
FIU would finally equalize in the 66th minute when junior Amy Jackson (Melbourne, Australia) sent a through pass to Maria Gualdron who got behind the Bearcats defense and beat the keeper one-on-one for her second goal of the young season.
"I think our speed helped us a lot in the second half," said Gualdron. "It helped us keep the pressure on the other team's defense."
The tie was almost short-lived as Binghamton nearly took the lead back in the 68th minute when Tricia Reed headed a corner kick from teammate Danielle White, but only found the cross bar, keeping the score knotted at one.
Maria Gualdron would help put the Golden Panthers on top when she found sophomore Marina Pappas (Lancaster, Pa.) in the center of the box. Pappas would settle the ball and fire a shot into the bottom left side of the net to give FIU the 2-1 lead.
"There's always chaos in the box," said Pappas who admitted to being surprised by the scoring opportunity. "I had my head down and just took one touch and hit it in."
Senior goalkeeper Jessica Vaccaro (Miami, Fla), who replaced Gannon to begin the second half, and the FIU defense held strong the rest of the way holding the Bearcats to just four shots in the second half, en route to the first Golden Panther victory of the season.
"It feels good," said a smiling Thomas Chestnutt who picked up his first win as FIU head coach. "The ladies worked hard. They deserve it. They definitely deserve it."
For FIU, Madeline Gannon recorded three saves and Jessica Vaccaro accounted for one.
Erin Iman of Binghamton finished with six saves.
FIU returns to action on Friday, September 21 at 6 p.m. when they face Murray State at University Park.
