FIU 4, South Alabama 1

Behind a two goal performance off the bench from Claudia Cardenas (Visalia, Calif.), FIU's women's soccer team downed South Alabama, 4-1, Friday night at University Park.

"We really wanted this win," said FIU senior forward Maria Gualdron (Miami, Fla.)."This was a great win for us in terms of us getting to where we want to be and that's the conference tournament."

The Golden Panthers jumped out to the early lead in the 21st minute on a beautiful goal by Kassandra Sorzano (Miami, Fla.). Sorzano received the ball just outside the right side of the box, beat a defender and then beat Jaguar goalkeeper Katie Berry near post. "This win gives us a ton of confidence because it shows that we do have the ability," said Sorzano. "With the win we have a lot of momentum and even more motivation now we just have to focus on Sunday."

It would remain a 1-0 game until the 49th minute when Sorzano would play a perfect through ball down the middle and Cardenas would beat the keeper from ten yards out. Just over ten minutes later, Cardenas would tally her second goal of the night when her shot from the top of the box went far post to give FIU the commanding 3-0 lead.

FIU would put one more in the back of the net in the 67th minute on a shot from just inside the box by Mayara da Fonseca Bordin (Santa Catalina, Brazil). South Alabama would score their lone goal in the 83rd minute by Carly Williams on a ball that was crossed into the box and slipped past an FIU defender and keeper Melanie Raimo (Tampa, Fla.)

Raimo would finish the match with two saves for the Golden Panthers who had their highest scoring output of the season.

The Golden Panthers will be back in action on Sunday at noon to take on Troy on Senior Day at University Park.