MIAMI (Sept. 24, 2014) – The FIU men's soccer team (3-3-1) earned a hard-fought, 2-1 victory on Wednesday night over the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Sophomore
Marvin Hezel scored his first goal of the season, while sophomore
Nicholas Midttun netted his first career goal in an FIU uniform.
In the win, junior Daniel Gonzalez picked up two assists on the two FIU goals. Redshirt freshman David Mitchell started his fourth-straight contest in goal, improving his record to 2-1-1, as he made seven stops in goal. The Jamaica native gave up his lone goal in the closing moments, when FIU was down two players due to two red card bookings. FIU took an 11-9 shot advantage into halftime, but was outshot 8-4 in the second half. The Panthers held the corner kick advantage for the game, 6-4. FIU was booked six times in the match. Senior Quentin Albrecht provided FIU's first opportunity in the seventh minute. On a great cross into the box by senior Roberto Alterio, Albrecht got a head on it and struck the cross bar. Then in the 28th minute, Alterio struck the post on a laser that the keeper would have had no chance on.In the closing moments of the first half, the Panthers played to the strengths of their center back Hezel, who scored on a header. Gonzalez took the corner kick and found the head of the tall, 6-3 Germany native to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead entering halftime.Midttun's goal came 13 minutes into the second half.The sophomore received a nice ball from Gonzalez across the top of the 18-yard box. Midttun scored his first career goal as he struck it to the far post side netting. With the two-man advantage, the Eagles got on on the board in the 85th minute. FGCU's Felipe DeSousa scored to cut the lead in half at 2-1.FIU is back in action this Saturday, as it opens Conference USA play with UAB at 7:30 p.m. at the FIU Soccer Stadium. 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).##### 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 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 Florida¹s 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/.
