Box Score BATON ROUGE, La. (Sept. 7, 2012) – The FIU women's soccer team (2-2-1) made its first-ever trip to the bayou and shut down LSU's (3-1-2) potent offense as the two teams battled to a 0-0 draw on Friday night. Despite the slow start offensively for the Panthers, FIU created chances late to nearly come away with the road victory.
 
"We got off to a slow start," Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "Our team dealt with a lot of offensive pressure by LSU and I thought they handled it well. Especially, our backline, which made some good tackles. Kaitlyn Savage was big for us in the net tonight. She made some great saves. Offensively, we had our chances. We picked it up a bit in the second half while in overtime we had a clear chance to win. Credit the 'keeper, who came up with some brilliant saves. LSU is a good team. I am proud of the girl's effort tonight."
 
FIU had an early chance to get on the board as sophomore Scarlett Montoya pressured the Tiger defense with the Panthers first shot on goal in the 11th minute. However, LSU goalkeeper Megan Kinneman made her first of six saves to keep the match at 0-0.  Junior Kim Lopez nearly got the Panthers on the board in the 30th minute with a shot on net but Kinneman made the save for her second of the night.  
 
In the waning seconds of regulation, sophomore Ashleigh Shim came loose on a breakaway and got off a shot as time expired. Kinneman came out and stopped the break to maintain her clean sheet and send the match to overtime.
 
The Panthers picked up their intensity in overtime giving the Tigers all that they could handle.
 
"I thought the two halves of overtime were some of the best soccer that we have played," sophomore Marie Egan said. "Once regulation ended, we realized that we had a really good chance to win this game."
 
FIU peppered LSU's keeper with a pair of shots in the 95th and 96th minutes. Shim and junior Chelsea Leiva each forced Kinneman to make back-to-back brilliant saves.
 
"Our intensity really picked up in the second half, heading into overtime," junior Nicole DiPerna said. "Things started to click for us late in the contest, giving the whole team a confidence which almost led to a win."
 
Leiva took one more crack at giving FIU the victory with a shot on goal in the 110th minute. The Royal Pam Beach, Fla., native attempted the game-winner on her fourth shot of the game but was unable to find the back of the net.
 
Although FIU was out-shot 23-10 by the Tigers, each team came away with six shots on net. Savage, who made six saves on the night, improved her season record to 2-2-1 while lowering her goals-against average to 0.96. Savage controlled the area, making three saves in the first half, including two off of a pair of LSU's corner kicks.
 
LSU took 15 of its 23 total shots in the second half. However, only two were on frame, forcing Savage to make the saves.
 
In all, the Tigers held an 11-0 advantage in corner kicks, while FIU committed 15 fouls to LSU's nine.
 
With the tie, the Panthers improve their record versus the SEC to 5-8-1 all-time.
 
FIU will host Idaho on Sunday, Sept. 9. Game time is 6:00 p.m. ET. at the FIU Soccer Stadium in Miami, Fla.
 
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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