MIAMI (Aug. 28, 2014) – FIU men's soccer head coach
Scott Calabrese will make his debut with FIU this weekend, as the Panthers soccer squad travels to the state of Michigan to take on a pair of Big Ten opponents. FIU will face Michigan on Friday at 4 p.m., followed by Michigan State on Sunday at noon.
Scouting MichiganMichigan came in at No. 3 in the Big Ten Coaches' Preseason Poll and is ranked as the No. 19 team in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason Poll. 2013 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year
Tyler Arnone returns to anchor the Wolverine midfield, as he became the fourth player in U-M history last season to earn back-to-back First Team All-Big Ten accolades.
All-Time vs. the WolverinesThe all-time series is even at 1-1, with the last meeting coming on Sept. 16, 2007, as the Wolverines downed the Panthers, 5-1, in Ann Arbor.
Scouting MichiganState In addition to the No. 10 ranking from the NSCAA and No. 11 from College Soccer News, the Spartans were also recognized with the No. 8 rank by TopDrawerSoccer.com. Both Adam Montague and Tim Kreutz earned All-Big Ten honors last year, along with four other members of the 2013 squad. The Spartans were voted second in the Big Ten preseason poll selected by the coaches.
All-Time vs. the SpartansThere has been just one matchup between Michigan State and FIU. The Spartans won that match against the Panthers in 2007 by a count of 1-0.
New Man in ChargeHead Coach
Scott Calabrese comes to FIU after a successful six-year stint as head coach at East Tennessee State. A program that began play in 2008, Calabrese led ETSU to two Atlantic Sun Tournament Championships (2010, 2013), a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, and four consecutive seasons of 10-or-more wins (2010-13). This past season, the Buccaneers were crowned 2013 Atlantic Sun Champions after earning a 3-1 victory over North Florida in the A-Sun Tournament Championship.
Panthers Return Nearly 82 Percent of 2013 ScoringIn total, FIU scored 27 goals last season. Of those goals that were scored last year, 22 of those goals are from players that are returning to this year's squad (81.5 percent). That ranks 10th in the country.
1. SIU Edwardsville – 100.0 (14/14)
2. Evansville – 97.1 (33/34)
3. Syracuse – 96.7 (29/30)
4. North Carolina – 89.5 (17/19)
5. Missouri State – 88.2 (15/17)
6. Virginia – 86.6 (39/45)
Buffalo – 86.6 (13/15)
8. NJIT – 84.0 (21/25)
Duke – 84.0 (21/25)
10. FIU – 81.5 (22/27)
Albrecht Approaching School's Top 10 Scoring ListSenior
Quentin Albrecht enters the 2014 season with 21 career goals. His 51 career points ranks him 22
nd in the all-time FIU record books, just 14 points shy of cracking the top 10.
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUMensSoccer) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUMensSoccer) for all the latest Men's Soccer news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on 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. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s 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. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
