Box Score MIAMI (October 17, 2012) – The FIU men's soccer team (7-4-2, 0-3-1 C-USA) fell just short, 3-2, to the No. 19 SMU Mustangs (9-3-2, 5-1-0) on Wednesday evening at the FIU Soccer Stadium.
The Panthers out-shot the Mustangs, 18-9, and had nine shots on goal to SMU's five. Nine different Panthers accounted for the shots on goal.
"It was really inspiring at the end," Head Coach Kenny Arena said. "We had three chances inside their six-yard box to score. This is a team that goes all the way to the end of the game. Nothing is over yet. This game just shows that we can compete with any team. Unfortunately, we didn't score as many goals as them today. That happens and we move on and get ready for a chance to get into the postseason with two road games coming up at Kentucky and Marshall."
Sophomore
Quentin Albrecht and junior
Nicolas Rodriguez accounted for FIU's goals. Sophomore
Colby Burdette and freshman
Daniel Gonzalez each had an assist.
The Mustangs struck first in the 17th minute of the match when Tyler Engel took a pass from John Lujano in the center of the area and beat FIU goalkeeper
Robin Spiegel to take a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers scored the equalizer in the 34th minute on a goal by Rodriguez, his third goal of the season. Rodriguez took a long pass from Burdette and juked out the SMU defender and easily beat the goalie to his right to tie the game.
At the 58:45 mark in the second half, SMU took the lead on an Eddie Puskarich goal. Five minutes later, the Mustangs extended their lead on a Ben Hill goal off of an Andrew Morales corner kick.
In the 76th minute, FIU started to pepper the SMU goalie with shots by Albrecht, Gonzalez and Burdette. At 77:43, Burdette was able to challenge Jaime Ibarra, who made a nice diving save to keep it a two-goal game.
Down, but not out, the Panthers brought the game to a one-goal contest in the 86th minute when Albrecht scored his team-leading eighth goal on a header off of a Gonzalez
corner kick.
The Panthers were able to get off three shots on goal in the final minute of the match, but were unable to find the net, falling to the Mustangs, 3-2.
"We want to win all of our remaining games. We have nothing to lose," said Arena. "We want to win every game left and tonight proved that we can."
The Panthers will hit the road and continue Conference USA action against Kentucky on Sunday, Oct. 21, at 5:00 p.m., before heading to Huntington, W.Va. to face Marshall on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7:00 p.m.
For tickets to all FIU home matches, call the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com. Fans can follow @FIUMensSoccer on Twitter and find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FIUMensSoccer. Fans can also watch all FIU men's soccer home matches live on FIUSports.com on our free webcasts.
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. 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 bachelors, masters 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 nearly 48,000 students in two campuses 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. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu
