Junior transfer Ricardo Ximenes made his long-awaited debut for FIU on Saturday and he did so in spectacular fashion, scoring twice against Kentucky. However the two goals wouldn't be enough as the FIU men's soccer team lost 3-2 in overtime against the Wildcats.
Ximenes wasted little time making his presence felt, scoring his first FIU goal just 9:01 into the match by shooting a ball past the UK goalkeeper to give the Golden Panthers an early 1-0 advantage.
However, in the 23rd minute the referee awarded a penalty kick to the Wildcats, and Jase Griffiths made sue to take advantage, scoring his fourth penalty kick goal of the season.
The score remained tied going into the break, but Ximenes would strike again shortly thereafter to put FIU back on top. In the 55th minute, Brian Carvajal sent a through-ball to Ximenes, who didn't miss from six yards out as FIU regained the lead.
The FIU lead was erased one more time, this time in the 64th minute. Masumi Turnbull took a corner kick from the right side that was hammered into the back of the net by C.J. Tappel to knot the score back up. That would not be the last time FIU heard from Turnbull in the match.
Neither team was able to score again as the match headed into overtime, marking the fourth time this season FIU played extra time. In the 103rd minute, Turnbull hurt FIU once again, knocking a rebound back in to give Kentucky the winning score.
The loss drops FIU to 2-9-2 and 1-4 within the conference. The Wildcats improved to 9-4-2 overall and 5-1 inside C-USA. FIU has three conference matches left, starting with a showdown against defending conference champions Tulsa this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at University Park.
