MIAMI (Aug. 7, 2016) -- FIU women's soccer features one former student-athlete competing for the host country in this year's Olympic Games. Former standout Thaisa Moreno has started both contests for her native Brazil in the Games held in her own country. She is one of six former or current FIU student-athletes competing in this year's Games, held in and around Rio de Janeiro this August.
 
Prior to Friday's opening ceremonies, the Brazilian national women's soccer team took on China in their Group E opener, winning 3-0. Saturday night, the Brazilians took out Sweden 5-1 and sit atop the Group E standings, with a contest against winless South Africa remaining in the group stage. That contest will take place Tuesday night at 8 p.m. EDT. The Brazilians are heavy favorites to win that contest to capture Group E and advance to the quarterfinal round, which takes place on Friday, August 12.
 
Only the U.S. are favored more heavily than the host nation, followed far behind by Germany and France.
 
Though she is now known as just "Thaisa" by her team and around the globe, Moreno was a Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection in 2009, after leading the team with seven goals and 16 points in her first season in Miami. That season, the team set the program record with seven consecutive wins and won its first Sun Belt title, after a 9-1-1 conference mark. When she graduated, she was one of just 35 players in the history of the program to score twice or more in a single game, putting two in the back of the net against South Alabama on October 16, 2009.
 
Following her FIU playing career (2009-2010), Moreno won the Brazilian Cup in 2011 with her Foz Cataratas team, which was a two-time Parana State Champion. She moved to the Ferroviaria club in 2013 to win the Sao Paulo State Championship and won that year's National Championship with Centro Olimpico.
 
She was selected to the national team in 2013 and has been a member since, capturing the Brasilia International Tournament Championship (2013, 2014 & 2015), the Champions League Vice-Championship (2014), the 2015 Toronto Pan American Championship as well as the Algarve Cup Vice Championship earlier this year.

Prior to the Olympics, she appeared on the world stage first for Brazil in the Women's World Cup, held in Canada in 2015. To date, she has played in 29 international contests, scoring two goals against other nations.
 
Before the Olympics, she reflected on the importance of her time at FIU.
 
"My experience at FIU was crucial for me to become the soccer player I am today," she said in an interview in preparation for the Games. "Coach Thomas (Chestnutt) helped me to have a better vision of the game and my teammates were always pushing me thru. I did have many days at practice that I wanted to quit. I was not happy to wake up every Monday to run that one mile. Coach Thomas was always calling me out and making me run when I just wanted to play. I hated those days at that time, but today I see how important they were for make me a stronger athlete."

"This is why we coach," said Chestnutt, entering his tenth season in charge of the program. "I get to see players develop and become what they are today. I remember how much Thaisa fought the training and the running tests. But as she became wiser and valued the work and saw the results, look at what she has turned herself into."
 
He was in attendance in Canada when Moreno made her first world tournament appearance last summer.
 
The women's gold-medal game in these Olympics is scheduled for Friday, August 19^th, with the bronze-medal game scheduled to go ahead of the final.
  
#####
 
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers 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 $9.8 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/.