DELAND, Fla. – Freshman midfielder
Catherine Rapp led the Panthers with two goals to pace the FIU women's soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Stetson at the Athletic Training Center on Thursday evening. Additionally,
Nikole Solis added her first goal of the season to secure the two-goal lead and win for the Panthers in the second half.
Rapp, a native of Evergreen, Colo., notched her first career brace in 78 minutes of play to add four points on the season. Solis was on the attack throughout the match, tallying a career-high five shots on goal en route to her second career goal early in the second half.
Freshman
Chinatsu Kaio earned her first career assist, while sophomore
Noemi Paquin added an assist to pair with three shots on goal.
Farah El Tayar added two shots on goal, while
Kim Schneider,
Selena Ramos,
Deborah Bien-Aime and
Dominique Marcelli also recorded shots on goal for the evening.
The Panthers spent a majority of the match on the attack, as FIU recorded a 16-5 shot differential for the match, highlighted by 13 second-half shots to Stetson's two.
Senior goalkeeper
Ithaisa Vinoly recorded four saves to collect her first win of the season.
FIU got things going right from the start, taking control of possession through the opening minutes up until Rapp would break the silence in the sixth minute.
Chinatsu Kaio would shift a Stetson defender one-on-one inside the box into a cross that would find
Catherine Rapp on the left side of the goal for an easy finish to notch her first career FIU goal, 1-0.
The Panthers kept the pressure up, rattling off five more shots on goal, though, Stetson would ultimately hold off the frenzy to return the favor and knot the match up in the 43
rd minute. A Stetson free kick would ricochet off the left post just past a diving Vinoly, as Stetson's Zoi Weinberger would unfortunately be in position to clean up the open goal to knot the match at 1-1 heading into the intermission.
Out of the break, the Panthers continued to make their strides into Hatter territory and used a relentless three-minute stretch to bust the two-goal margin after a costly Stetson foul in the 54
th. Near the far left wing, Paquin would send a beautiful free kick into the box that connected for a perfect header off Rapp into the low right side of the goal for her second score and 2-1 lead in the 56
th minute.
Just moments later, another costly foul by the Hatters would set up
Nikole Solis' goal in the 57
th minute for the 3-1 advantage early in the second frame. Paquin corralled possession after a free kick, lofting a pass to Solis inside the box as she would follow up an initial saved shot to find the lower left side of the goal for FIU's final goal on the evening. The Panthers continued to pepper Stetson with shots for the remainder of play, as FIU's defensive line held strong to ultimately see the Panthers walk away with the 3-1 result at the end of regulation.
UP NEXT
The Panthers return to Miami next, slated to host Southern University on Sunday, Aug. 28, for a 1 p.m. matchup at FIU Soccer Stadium to be broadcast on CUSA.tv.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Instagram (@FIUWSoccer), Twitter (
@FIUWSoccer), and Facebook (
Facebook.com/FIUWSoccer) for all the latest Women's Soccer news.
General athletic news can also be found at
@FIUSports on Facebook and
@FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.
