COLUMBIA, S.C. - The FIU men's soccer team (7-8-0, 1-5-0 C-USA) fought hard for 90 minutes but couldn't overcome not having its two leading scorers as they fell, 1-0, Wednesday evening to the South Carolina Gamecocks (8-5-2, 3-2-1 C-USA) in front of 1,475 fans at Stone Stadium.

The Panthers were without the services of their two leading scorers, freshman Nicolas Rodriguez-Fraile (five goals, two assists) and sophomore Michael Muehseler (six goals, one assist) who did not make the trip to Columbia due to injury.

"We fought the whole way through but couldn't punch it in," Head Coach Munga Eketebi said. "It's hard to overcome not having your two leading scorers for the match but there was no quit in this squad tonight. We just couldn't get it done in the end."

The Gamecocks Stephen Morrissey scored the lone goal of the game in the 11th minute off a corner kick.

Junior Lucas Di Croce led the Panthers with two shots on goal, followed by sophomore Sebastian Frings and senior Diego Tamburus with one apiece. FIU out-shot South Carolina, 10-4 in the second half of the match.

FIU Goalkeeper Shane Lopez registered three saves.

The Panthers will welcome the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to the FIU Soccer Stadium for a Conference USA matchup on Saturday, Oct., 30, at 7 p.m. The 1980 FIU men's soccer team will be honored at the game on the 30th anniversary of their national-runner-up performance in the NCAA Tournament.

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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