CORVALLIS, Ore. (Sept. 18, 2011) - The FIU women's soccer team snapped its three-game losing skid by defeating the Oregon Ducks, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon in the OSU Nike Invitational from the campus of Oregon State University. The Panthers improve to 3-5 on the season while the Ducks fall to 5-3-1.
"It was a terrific team effort bouncing back from Friday," Head Coach Thomas Chestnuttsaid. "The team battled and competed at a higher intensity level to play good soccer."
Coming off a tough loss two nights prior to Oregon State, the Panthers put the pressure on early and finally broke through in the 21st minute. Sophomore Chelsea Leiva dribbled the ball through the middle and slipped a great pass through the Oregon defense, finding freshman Ashleigh Shim on the left side who drove it home for her first-career goal.
"When it first went in, I didn't believe that I scored," Shim said. "I was just kind of in awe. It meant so much for us to get ahead and it felt good."
Then just two minutes into the second half, the Panthers were awarded a penalty kick after Oregon committed a handball in the box. Freshman Johanna Volz took the kick and registered her second goal of the season, as well as her first-career game-winning score.
The Ducks managed to cut the deficit in half with a goal in the 63rd minute when Mo Fitzgerald found Julie Armstrong for her fourth goal of the season, but the FIU defense hung on to preserve the victory.
"This win means a lot; we stepped it up today," Volz said. "We knew we needed to step up the energy and I think it will carry on through season. We started to play our game today and we played together."
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage stopped five balls for her third win of the year as Oregon held the shots advantage 17 to 11.
FIU will now head to Little Rock, Ark., on Friday, Sept. 23 to open Sun Belt Conference play against UALR. Game time is set for 8 p.m. and live stats will be provided through 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
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