MIAMI (September 16, 2016) – The FIU men's soccer team returns to the FIU Soccer Stadium on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. to kick off its defense of its Conference USA championship. The Panthers (2-2-1) will take the pitch to face No. 21 Kentucky in what is the first of three-straight matches against teams currently ranked in the Top 25 of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) weekly poll.
Saturday's match against the Wildcats is also the lone home match for the Panthers in a five-match stretch that began on Sept. 9 at North Florida. Following the contest with UK, FIU will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to take on No. 12 Wake Forest (7 p.m.) on Sept. 20 and then to Charlotte to face the No. 9 ranked 49ers on Sept. 24 (7 p.m.). The Panthers will close out the three-match road trip at New Mexico on Sept. 30 (9 p.m. ET) against the Lobos who are also receiving votes in this week's NSCAA poll.
The Panthers are coming off a tough 4-3 loss at North Florida in Jacksonville on Sept. 9.
Santiago Patino logged his second multi-goal match of the year with two goals against the Ospreys, and
Brad Fountain notched his first goal of the season. It was also Patino's third multi-point match of the season.
Patino has been just under 60 percent of the Panthers' offense this season recording 10 of FIU's 17 points. He has gotten off to a fast start scoring five goals on the year, with all of them coming in the last four matches. The sophomore forward is currently seventh in the nation (and tops in Conference USA) in total goals (five), and eighth in the nation (third in C-USA) in goals-per-game (1.0 gpg).
Kentucky comes into Saturday's match with FIU boasting a 3-1-1 record following a tough 1-0 loss to Furman in Greenville, South Carolina. It was the Wildcats' only loss of the season in just their second road contest of the year. Kentucky started the 2016 campaign with a three-match unbeaten streak with wins at Marquette (4-0) on Aug. 26, against Duquesne (1-0) on Aug. 30 and Louisville (1-0) on Sept. 6. The lone blemish on its record, prior to Furman, was a 1-1 double-overtime draw to Dartmouth on Sept. 2.
Following its upcoming three-match road trip, FIU will return home to face Florida Gulf Coast on Oct. 4 at 7 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).
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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/.
