Box Score Fort Meyers, Fla. (Aug. 31, 2012) – Redshirt junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage delivered a career-high 11 saves, but a goal by Florida Gulf Coast in the 64th minute put the FIU women's soccer team on the losing end of a 1-0 match at FGCU Soccer Complex Friday night.

Savage was tremendous all night, registering 9-of-11 saves in the first half.  Scarlett Montoya (Miami, Fla.) and Chelsea Leiva (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) led the Panthers (2-1-0) with three and two shots, respectively, in a huge defensive effort by FIU.

"Kaitlyn was fantastic tonight," Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "She came up with a couple great saves and was a bright spot for us.  Full credit goes to Florida Gulf Coast for chipping away until they got the goal. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a way to equalize.  [FGCU] did a good job tonight and we just came up short."

Near the 16th minute, sophomore defender Marie Egan (Littleton, Colo.) broke up a chance by the Eagles (3-1-1) that led to the first of nine first-half corners. FGCU played a quick inlet pass and executed a cross-to-diving header that Savage denied on the far post.

The Eagles broke down the middle of the field six minutes later and dished to the left side, but Savage came out to make a diving save to preserve the tie.

The Panthers found a bit of rhythm midway through the half, when they began to find space in the offensive third.  Montoya, Nicole DiPerna (Melbourne, Fla.) and Ashleigh
Shim (Jacksonville, Fla.) each let go shots from near the box, but none snuck past the Eagles net-minder.

Savage's most heroic moment of the opening frame occurred in the 32nd minute.  An Eagles corner to the far side found a crowd that included the keeper.  Contact put the ball high and to the opposite side, where FGCU fired a shot that Savage saved to preserve the scoreless half.

Scrambled play inside the box at 63:13 enabled the Eagles to get the opening goal.  With both sides crammed inside the 18-yard line, Ally Kasun and Ashley Ciesielcazyk put soft passes to the feet of Shannen Wacker, who finished to the left side.

FIU generated a few opportunities following the goal.  A pair of fouls awarded free kicks to FIU in the offensive third.  Montoya used one of the set pieces to fool the crowd by landing a shot on the top of the net.  However, the Panthers did not find an equalizer and fell, 1-0.

FIU travels to play No. 22 Florida on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.  The match will be streamed live through Gatorvision.  Live stats will also be available.

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/.