MIAMI (Sept. 26 ,2010) - On Friday, FIU junior Katrina Rose found herself on the field for the first time this season with a brief stint late in the game. Two days later, she found herself at the bottom of a celebratory dogpile.
Rose came in off the bench and came through with the game-winning goal with 49 seconds left in double overtime, giving FIU (5-4-1, 2-0 SBC) a 1-0 victory over Arkansas State (4-5-1, 0-2 SBC) on Sunday afternoon.
"When it comes conference time, it's all about setting yourself up for the end. Home games you have to take full points," Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "We still have a long time left in the conference. We're far from peaking. We're fortunate that the ball went our way today, and to complete the weekend with two wins is big."
The two squads battled through three scoreless periods as FIU's defense held Arkansas State to just five shots, three on goal. Meanwhile, the Panthers forced ASU keeper Susan Brown to come up with six saves.
For the third time this season, the game extended to double overtime and FIU managed to come through once again, improving its record in extra-period contests this year to 2-0-1.
"You always want to make something happen the first 90 seconds and then if it doesn't you just try and piece it together," junior defender Victoria Miliucci said. "You're super focused on just not giving them anything. You never give up right to the very end. I think this game our fitness really helped us last until the end."
With less than a minute to play, senior defender Linn Thune played a long, diagonal ball to Kassandra Sorzano at the top of box. Sorzano took the ball off her chest, and an Arkansas State defender managed to knock the ball wide, allowing freshman Kim Lopez to chase it down, take a touch and serve it to Rose, who headed it into the far post.
"The adrenaline of that play was crazy," Lopez said. "It's indescribable. Forty-nine seconds on the clock -- it couldn't have happened with better time left. It just went perfect. We fought all the way to the end and that's the result you get when you keep fighting."
With the win, FIU improves to 2-0 in conference play - the program's best start in a decade. FIU hits the road next weekend, traveling to Troy on Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. and South Alabama on Sunday at 2 p.m.
