MIAMI (Oct. 17, 2015) – The FIU men's soccer team (8-4-0, 3-2-0 C-USA) upset the No. 9-ranked Old Dominion Monarchs (7-2-1, 3-1-1 C-USA) with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory on Saturday evening.
The win snapped a two-match losing skid for the Panthers, while handing the Monarchs their first conference loss of the season.
The FIU Soccer Stadium saw little action the first half of the game.
Old Dominion found the scoreboard in the 59
th minute with a backwards header by Ivan Militar. The Panthers trailed 1-0.
Senior
Daniel Gonzalez scored the equalizer with an incredible cross by junior
Jamar Campion-Hinds to set the score 1-1. Gonzalez registered his fifth goal of the season.
In the 82
nd minute, junior
Patrick Lopez shot the game-winner with a header and registered his first-career goal to close the game at 2-1.
"Words can't even describe it, it's a dream come true," said Lopez. "More important than the goal is the team win… It's huge."
"Losing back-to-back games took a little bit away from our confidence," said Head Coach
Scott Calabrese. "It was nice to give the team a good feeling that we can be successful."
The Monarchs outshot FIU, 15-12, but Panther goalie
Arthur Clapot accumulated a total of eight saves for the match.
"If we play confident and our style of soccer we will win the next game," commented freshman Steffen Böhm.
The Panthers return to action this Tuesday as they travel to Ft. Myers to take on the FGCU Eagles, at 7 p.m.
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 Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium. About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer 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 $8.9 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 of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
