MIAMI, Fla. (Oct. 8, 2010) - Heart. Determination. Resiliency. Grit. Pick one - all describe what the FIU women's soccer team was made of in its 4-2 victory over WKU on Friday night.

The Panthers scored all four goals in the second half to come from behind and roll their win streak to five, remaining unbeaten in conference play and still tied with Denver atop the standings. Junior Katrina Rose notched the second multi-goal game of her career, scoring the game-winner with less than five minutes remaining off an assist from freshman Chelsea Leiva. 

With the win, FIU (8-4-1, 5-0 SBC) secured its first victory at home against the Hilltoppers (5-5-2, 3-2 SBC) since 2004.

"We have very good team chemistry this year," Rose said. "A lot of the girls know what a certain player's attributes are so a lot of times we can break down other teams. We have a lot of heart. Our team is determined this year so if we get down, we know we'll always pick ourselves back up if we try hard."

The first half was tame as FIU only came up with two shots on goal, including a dart from junior captain April Perry with less than eight minutes remaining that keeper Libby Stout dived to deflect. Meanwhile, FIU's defense held WKU to no shots on goal.

WKU livened things up in the second half when the Hilltoppers drew a penalty kick less than five minutes after the break. Mallory Outerbridge managed to find her way past keeper Melanie Raimo to give WKU the edge, 1-0.

"[I was thinking of] the penalty that I stopped at Florida Gulf Coast, just try to do that again but it didn't happen the way I wanted to," Raimo said. "But I have total faith in our offense and our defense and knew we'd come out."

FIU dug in and tied the score when Kelsey Rene served a ball from the left side that Stout came out to meet, but she misjudged, and Rose was there to chip the ball into the net at 56:10.

Twenty minutes went by before senior captain Kassandra Sorzano headed in the go-ahead goal off a corner by Perry for her fifth goal of the year. WKU responded when Outerbridge struck again high into the right corner with less than eight minutes to play to tie the score, 2-2.

FIU refused to give up its momentum, and three minutes later, Leiva connected with Rose, who found her way past a defender and came up with her second game-winner of the season at 85:14.

"It's an adrenaline rush for sure," Rose said. "I wasn't playing in the beginning of the season, so to come in and fit in with the team feels really good. It's really good that everyone is able to work (together), and I'm just super excited."

FIU didn't stop there. Leiva found the back of the net with 39 seconds remaining off an assist from classmate Nicole DiPerna, stringing together a three-game scoring streak for the second time this season.

"We stress mental toughness with the team and do a lot of things to challenge them mentally and it's games like this that it comes to light," Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "They want it and they are mentally strong enough to deal with adversities. It was certainly a very good performance tonight."

FIU resumes play on Sunday at 1 p.m. when the Panthers host Middle Tennessee.