EL PASO, Texas (Oct. 26, 2014) – The FIU women's soccer team (8-8-1, 3-4-1) dropped a 2-1 contest to the UTEP Miners on Sunday afternoon, in what was a gritty performance from the Panthers.
"I am really proud of the girls' effort today," said Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt. "Over the 90 minutes, we gave the better performance. UTEP had a great individual play to score its first goal and a soft call on the PK goal. They are a good team, but I just thought on the balance of the performance, we deserved more today. Congratulations to UTEP."
Junior Madlen Weinhardt equalized a then 1-0 deficit for FIU 68 seconds after the Miners went ahead in the first half. It's the first goal of the season for the Germany native. Redshirt senior Chelsea Leiva was credited with the 19th assist of her career, moving her alone into second place in program history for assists, while her 87 points is tied for fourth all-time.
An up-tempo game from the whistle, the Panthers answered with the first shot of the match in the second minute when red-shirt junior Nikki Rios sent the ball wide left. After controlling a Miners' corner, senior Johanna Volz' sent a header in the direction of the next approaching the sixth minute. Freshman Nevena Stojakovic answered her first test of the day in the 10th minute, saving the UTEP shot.
The Panthers' defense continued its consistently strong play it's shown all season, denying five shots in a seven-minute span, highlighted by a block in the box off a Miners' look, stopping it from reaching Stojakovic. Leiva just missed a promising strike in the 25th minute. UTEP countered with a header shot that snuck past Stojakovic a minute later to put the Miners up, 1-0.
Following the reset, senior Ashleigh Shim took the ball down the field and struck the crossbar, nearly equalizing the game. Weinhardt found the answer 68 seconds after UTEP pulled ahead with a rocket sent high past the UTEP keeper. Leiva set up the play with a ball sent to Weinhardt down the right flank.
The offensively heavy first half finished with UTEP holding a slight edge in shots, 7-5.
After two strong chances for the Miners were suppressed in the opening minutes of the second stanza, Leiva let a shot rip in the 49th minute. Both teams settled down following the kick, with action limited before the 55th minute, when FIU cleared a ball out of the zone. A Panther handball in the box during the ensuing UTEP corner gave the Miners a penalty kick in the 56th minute. Angela Cutaia converted to give UTEP a 2-1 lead.
Leiva looked to equalized nearing the 65th minute when she struck a ball just inches right of Sarah Dilling. The Miners were called for being offsides following a clean string of passes, but a savvy defensive corps for the Panthers held its positioning for the offsides call. Freshman Courtney Phillips missed wide on the FIU possession following the whistle. Rios then had a look blocked in the 72nd minute from just outside the 18. Redshirt sophomore Shelby Bowden, who scored the game-winner on Friday, blasted a chance to the right of Dilling in the 75th minute.
Shim sent a chance wide left in the 81st minute, which was followed by a look that sailed high by senior Caroline Hernandez four minutes later. The shot came off a ball played in Weinhardt's set piece.
FIU closes out its home slate this Thursday, as the Panthers host the Marshall Thundering Herd at 7 p.m. for Senior Night from the FIU Soccer Stadium.
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWomensSoccer) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWSoccer) for all the latest FIU women's soccer news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers 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 contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member ofConference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
