Box Score MIAMI (August 26, 2016) – The No. 23-ranked FIU men's soccer team took its show on the road to kick off its 2016 campaign and did so against a team, like itself, who won its conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

The Panthers, unfortunately, began this season much like 2015 ended, with a tough hard-fought loss, as Furman defeated FIU, 1-0, on the first day of the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Soccer Classic hosted by the College of Charleston. The defeat marks the second-straight season-opening loss for the Panthers, and its fourth consecutive loss to the Paladins in the all-time series.

Despite the fact that FIU (0-1-0) had control of the match for much of the evening, the contest proved to be a statistical dead heat for the entire 90 minutes. In the end, Furman outlasted the Panthers and snuck out the victory when Josiah Baker found the back of the net from the inside of the box in the 88th minute, beating Arthur Clapot.

The Paladins (1-0-0) converted on their eighth shot of the match, one more than FIU. Furman also held a slight 5-3 shots on goal advantage. In addition to the defensive battle, the contest proved to be extremely physical. Both teams combined for 31 fouls, which included two yellow cards and a red card, all three coming against the Panthers.

"This was a tough result," said FIU Head Coach Scott Calabrese. "Despite the result there were far more positives than negatives from our performance. We started very well and I felt we controlled the match.  We were implementing our plan and coped well with Furman. The turning point in the game was the red card.  But even with that we continued to attack and created chances. We will bounce back from this and learn from our mistakes. Luckily we don't have to wait long.  We have a chance to redeem ourselves on Sunday."

FIU closes out the weekend on Sunday when it butts heads with the homestanding Cougars at 2:30 p.m.

The Panthers' home opener will be on Sept. 2 when they welcome Wisconsin to the FIU Soccer Stadium for a 7 p.m. match, followed by Niagara on Sept. 4 at 2 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/.