MIAMI - Freshman goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage won't let you see her sweat.

Savage received the first starting nod of her career in FIU's home opener on Sunday evening and came up with seven saves, including a brilliant diving catch, during the double-overtime 0-0 tie to Florida Gulf Coast.

"We feel like we have two capable goalkeepers. Melanie (Raimo) has done a great job. We wanted to put our freshman under pressure and see how she responded, and I think she did an excellent job," Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "Now we know we can definitely rely on either goalkeeper going forward so that gives us more strength as a team."

FIU senior Marina Pappas led the offense with three shots on goal but couldn't find a reason why the ball failed to find the back of the net.

"I was aiming appropriately, I was hitting the ball hard enough, I don't know," Pappas said. "Our defense kept us in the game for sure. In the first half, we forwards weren't doing our usual thing and they definitely kept us in the game."

Added Chestnutt: "We had a lot of chances early on in this game. Again, that's soccer. If you get early chances you need to put one of them away, otherwise it could come back to haunt you. We used a lot of different girls tonight and all of them stepped up. We felt like at the end we were in the position to win it but we couldn't' get it in the goal."

Savage saved the Eagles' first four shots in the second half. She came up with a stellar save just over 60 minutes into the game as she dived left to catch the ball Caytlan McKenzie sent sailing toward the net.

Pappas nearly scored in the first overtime period but Stephanie Powers thwarted her efforts again. The shot was FIU's last scoring opportunity.

In the second overtime, Florida Gulf Coast almost squeaked out the win. Savage tipped Lindsay Haw's shot, but Amber McCall was near the goal line to take a shot of her own. It sailed high over the net and the game ended in the tie.

The Golden Panthers head back out on the road to Tampa where they will meet USF on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and UCF on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

"We are building this year and we continue to build from weekend to weekend," Chestnutt said. "We'll see where it goes but I think they're a great group and slowly but surely we're taking steps forward, so that's encouraging."