MIAMI - The FIU Panthers (7-10-0, 1-7-0 CUSA) ended its 2010 season with a hard-fought loss to the No. 5-ranked team in the country, the SMU Mustangs (15-1-0, 7-1-0 CUSA), on a cold and windy Miami evening at the FIU Soccer Stadium.
Before the contest, FIU honored its four seniors, Shane Lopez, Diego Tamburus, Dane Smith and Marcus Hairston for their hard work and dedication to the FIU Panthers soccer family.
Hairston finished his FIU career with a then game-tying assist on a Carlo Schmid goal in the 48th minute of the match. Lopez tallied seven saves, one shy of tying his career-high set earlier this season. Tamburus registered a shot on goal in his 90 minutes of action.
SMU got off to a hot start on a cold evening when Josue Soto scored an easy goal in the third minute of the game when Lopez got tangled up in the box with his own defender, creating the Mustangs scoring opportunity.
The score would remain 1-0 until early in the second half when Schmid took a cross from Hairston and buried it to the far post for his second goal of the season.
The two conference rivals battled throughout a physical game which saw seven yellow cards and 37 combined fouls (SMU 21, FIU 16), including a red card to SMU Head Coach Tim McClements at the start of the overtime period.
At the 98-minute mark of the game, FIU's netminder Lopez would make a diving save on a Payton Hickey shot, but could not corral the rebound as TJ Nelson took the easy rebound in the net for the SMU game-winner.
Muehseler and Rodriguez-Fraile finish the season as the team-leaders in goals scored with six apiece. Tamburus and Rodriguez-Fraile led the 2010 squad with two assists on the year. Rodriguez-Fraile had a team-high 14 points for the Panthers. Anthony Hobbs led the defense playing in all 17 games.
"I'm definitely looking forward to next season because we're going to be able to have a full slate of scholarships like everybody else in the conference," FIU Head Coach Munga Eketebi said about the future of his program. "At the end of the day, I've always told the players before the game, it doesn't matter who we play but if you're going to show up or not. They did a nice job of showing up this game. Like I've said before, we're a very young squad and really, without our two top scorers [Nicolas Rodriguez-Fraile and Michael Muehseler] the past few games, that doesn't help. I feel we have a lot to build on for next year and the guys this year worked hard and I couldn't be more proud of the group of guys we had on the field."
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