MIAMI (October 25, 2016) – The FIU men's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to four matches on Tuesday night at the FIU Soccer Stadium with a convincing 2-0 win over in-state foe UCF in its final non-conference match of the season. The win improves the Panthers to 6-6-2 on the year, while the Knights fall to 4-9 on the season.

Offensively, Joris Ahlvini scored his second goal of the season and Alvaro Alvarez netted his first career goal, and Daniel Gagliardi recorded his second-straight shutout in net to pace the defense en route to the win.

Coming into the contest, the Panthers knew that defense was going to be key in leading to a win. UCF's Matias Pyysalo came into the match with 23 total points (9g, 5a), was fifth in the nation in points-per-game (1.9) and eighth in goals-per-match (0.75). The FIU defense, however, shut Pyysalo down allowing the midfielder to get only one shot off – it was not on goal – in his 90 minutes.

As was expected, the first half was a defensive struggle with the two sides combining for nine total shots and just two shots on goal, with both coming on the Panthers' side of the scoreboard.

The best chance of the match, in the first half, came with time running out when Luis Betancur played a ball that was passed in from Paul Marie from the far sideline. Betancur took the pass on one bounce and attempted a spectacular bicycle kick from 16 yards out that was saved by UCF goalkeeper Matt Rosenberg to keep the match scoreless going into the intermission.

Each team continued to try to gain the upper hand and take control when Ahlinvi finally got the Panthers on the board in the 72^nd minute. Ahlinvi took a shot from 17 yards out, with two UCF defenders on him, and crossed it from the top left side of the box and into the bottom right corner of the goal.

In the 80^th minute, Alvarez made a bid to put the Panthers up two goals when he drove far into the box and fired a low chip shot from five yards out only to have the attempt saved by Rosenberg. Rosenberg, however, was not able to deny Alvarez just one minute later, when he took a pass from Juan Benedetty off a set piece and headed the offering past the UCF keeper and into the left side of the goal to put FIU up 2-0.

The Knights had a chance with less than two minutes remaining when Cal Jennings fired a dangerous shot on Gagliardi who was not beaten, making the save.

Gagliardi got his second start in goal, in just his second collegiate match, and finished the night with two saves.

The Panthers now travel to Norfolk, Virginia, for their final regular-season road match of the year at Old Dominion on Oct. 29 (7 p.m.) before closing out the regular season at home on Nov. 5 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).

#####

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/.