MIAMI - The FIU men's soccer team picked up its first conference win of the season with a 2-0 victory against the Memphis Tigers on Tuesday night at the FIU Soccer Stadium.
The win raises FIU's record to 6-5 overall and 1-2 in Conference USA, while the Tigers fall to 3-8 overall and 0-4 in conference action.
FIU goalkeeper Shane Lopez saved eight shots on the night en route to his fourth-career shutout.
"A win is a win. We could have probably played a little bit better, but we got the job done" FIU Head Coach Munga Eketebi said. "At the end of the day, we are at home and you have to win your home games, simple as that. I felt we still labored to get that second goal."
After a scoreless first half between the two teams, the Panthers struck first in the 58th minute of the match when Carlo Schmid took a deflection from Sebastian Frings into the left corner of the net for the first score of the game. Nicolas Rodriguez-Fraile also received an assist on the play with his cross from the left wing to Frings. The goal was Schmid's first of his career at FIU.
"The team pulled it off today," Schmid said. "We had to defend hard. It wasn't easy. Shane [Lopez] was amazing tonight otherwise we wouldn't have pulled it out. I did my part and the team did the rest."
The Tigers had an opportunity to put points on the board when Liam Collins and Mark Sherrod took consecutive shots that were saved by Lopez. Lopez was injured on the play prompting Eketebi to sub in Michael Chisholm and then quickly call Lopez back to the field once he was cleared by the trainer.
One of Memphis' best opportunities came when J.J Greer took a shot from the top of the box towards the post that was saved by a diving Lopez. Laying out for the ball, Lopez was able to get enough of it and deflect it with his left hand to prevent the Tigers from tying the match.
Lopez once again came up big in the 87th minute, blocking a close-range shot by the Tigers' Austin Gross to keep the shuout intact.
"We're starting to get it together," Lopez said. "We played a lot of games on the road and that was hard on us. Now that we're home, we're getting a good vibe going and we'll be ready to come back and play on Saturday."
Frings put the nail in the coffin for the Panthers, scoring with 12 seconds to play to secure the victory for FIU. The sophomore scored his first goal of the season after registering a team-high nine in 2009. Michael Muehseler recorded the assist on the play.
"It was a tough time," Frings said about his season-long goal drought. "Recently, I've been playing better. As long as we win, that's all that matters."
The Panthers will continue their three-match homestand on Saturday, October 16, when they host the UAB Blazers at the FIU Soccer Stadium. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.
For tickets to FIU home matches, call 305-FIU-Game or log on to FIUSports.com. FIU students will have the opportunity to earn 50 Panther Points by attending the game and having their ID scanned. Points that student's acquire over the year will accumulate and the students with the most points will be eligible to win great prizes like HDTV's, laptop, iPod's and much more.
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