MIAMI (Oct. 28, 2011) - Two goals by sophomore Chelsea Leiva and another by senior Carlan Jones propelled the FIU women's soccer team to a 3-1 triumph on Senior Night over rival Florida Atlantic on Friday night at FIU Soccer Stadium. With the win, the Panthers finish the regular season with an 11-6-2 overall record and an 8-1-2 mark in the Sun Belt Conference. FAU falls to 6-11-1 overall and 2-8-1 in league play.
"We wanted to get a couple things done today, first and foremost to win the game," said Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt. "We got ourselves ready for the [SBC] tournament and we're happy with the result. Our confidence should be really high moving forward."
The Owls made a bid to spoil Senior Night for the Panthers, scoring in the seventh minute of the match when Jesse Shugg was able to block a kick from the FIU keeper and the rebound rolled into the net.
However, the Panthers responded early in the second half, scoring three times in a span of seven minutes. Leiva tallied the equalizer after she was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty kick. The sophomore booted it into the upper-right corner for her fourth goal of the season.
Leiva needed just two more minutes to find the net again, taking a nice pass from freshman Johanna Volz and beating the keeper for the eventual game-winning score. With the goal, Leiva overtook the team lead in goals with five as she netted her second game-winning goal of the year.
Then in the 61st minute, Jones brought Senior Night into full circle by scoring her first collegiate goal. The senior defender fought through traffic in front of the net and booted in a corner kick to round out the scoring.
"It was awesome; I got my first collegiate goal on senior night," said an ecstatic Jones. "It doesn't get much better than that. This was a really good win going into the tournament and we're pumped about it."
Earning the victory for FIU between the pipes was senior Melanie Raimo, earning her first win of 2011 after replacing Kaitlyn Savage after 37 minutes. She was contested once and made the save to keep the Owls to one goal.
FIU will now travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 2. The Panthers have clinched the third seed and will wait until after Friday's results to find out who their opponent will be. FIU has been in the tournament four-straight seasons and is looking to advance past the semifinals for the first time since 2000.
Be sure to check FIUSports.com later for more details about the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
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. Its colleges 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, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
