MIAMI (Oct. 23, 2011) - The FIU women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against Louisiana on Sunday afternoon at FIU Soccer Stadium. The Panthers move to 10-6-2 on the season and 7-1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference, while the Ragin' Cajuns stand at 5-12-2 overall and 1-8-1 in conference play.
"Louisiana is a very spirited team and came out and played hard," Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "We created a lot of opportunities in the second half and we have to finish those to be successful. At the end of the day, our girls played hard and things just didn't fall in for us. It happens sometimes; we just need to keep moving forward."
The Ragin' Cajuns got off to a fast start, scoring in the sixth minute of the contest when Christa Rostohar created a turnover in the box and chipped the ball over the keeper.
FIU found the equalizer in the 21st minute as freshman Ashleigh Shim crossed a nice ball in the box to sophomore Kim Lopez who beat the keeper to the right side. With the goal, Lopez is now tied with Shim for the team lead with four scores on the season.
The Panthers had several key chances in the second half to take the lead, none better than senior April Perry's one-on-one opportunity in the 66th minute. Shim created a nice turnover and chipped the ball to Perry who was able to slip past the defenders and break free in the attacking third. Perry fired a shot to the right side of the goal but the Louisiana keeper made a terrific save to keep the score even.
FIU held the advantage in shots by a 21-9 margin, but the Ragin' Cajuns owned an 8-7 advantage in shots on goal.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage made seven saves in the match despite allowing only her fifth goal in conference play.
The Panthers will look forward to their last match of the regular season against local rival Florida Atlantic as the two sides will meet on Friday, Oct. 28. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at FIU Soccer Stadium and the Panthers will recognize the 2011 senior class during the contest.
For ticket information, call the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 17 different sports, and is a proud member of the Sun Belt Conference and an affiliate member of Conference USA (men's soccer). Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Itscolleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls 46,000 students in two campus and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida.FIU is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and has 400 student-athletes participating in17 sports. In 2010 the Panthers won their first bowl game. For more information about FIU, visithttp://www.fiu.edu/.
