MIAMI - The FIU women's soccer team held off a late North Texas rally to tie the Mean Green, 2-2, on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Katrina Rose led the team with a goal and an assist to help the Golden Panthers (4-5-3, 2-1-1) end an eight-game losing streak to North Texas (7-4-1, 3-0-1) dating back to 2001.
"To say we're 2-1-1 through the first two weekends of the conference coming in, we definitely would have been very satisfied with it, considering last year we were 0-3-1 at this point," Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "2-1-1 is a big change, so we're very happy with that. We have to look at the bigger picture. As a staff we're happy with what our girls are doing. The team is fighting for each other. They're battling hard."
FIU attacked right away and became the only team besides then-No. 25 Ohio State to score more than one goal on the Mean Green this season. Sophomore April Perry had a nice look at the net just before the 16-minute mark, but goalie Mandy Hall jumped and tipped it for the save.
About a minute-and-a-half later, freshman Casey Thames inserted a corner kick to Rose, who drilled a header in for the score - her third goal of the season. The assist was Thames' first of the season.
The Golden Panthers continued to control the tempo after the break. With 20 minutes to go in the game, Jessica Gambill swiftly weaved her way through defenders from midfield to five yards in front of the net but her shot was deflected by Hall.
FIU nearly scored again when Thaisa Moreno's fancy footwork got the ball to Perry, who passed it over to Rose, but her foot whiffed the ball and it went wide right 17:30 remaining.
After Gambill dispossessed a North Texas attacker, she dribbled the ball to midfield before it went out of bounds off the Mean Green. Rose received the ball, worked it to near the end line and kicked it over to Perry, who headed it in for her first goal of the season with 16 minutes remaining in the game.
"I think the connection between our midfield and our forwards was a lot better this game," Rose said. "North Texas is a really good team, so to be up 2-0 on them is really exciting, and yeah, I scored, but it was a whole team effort. I think everybody is committed to playing hard and I think that helped us a lot in getting opportunities."
North Texas remained resolute as the Mean Green scored two goals in a span of 3:32. Rachel Turpin's free kick went straight into the net just shy of the 10 minutes remaining. Then Kendall Juett beat Kaitlyn Savage to knot the game with 7:10 to go.
FIU nearly clinched a win before the 3-minute mark of the first overtime. Though contested, senior Amy Jackson had a decent look at the goal but it sailed wide left.
"I think we have to realize it's a 90-minute game, plus overtime and we didn't hold on to it for that full 90 minutes," Jackson said. "We sort of let it slip but there's still a lot of positive to come out of it."
FIU continues the second half of its four-game homestand on Friday when it hosts Louisiana at 7 p.m.
