Miami, Fla. – FIU completes a dominant winning result against Southeastern Louisiana, beating the Lions 6-1 in their first home game of the season. Four Panthers scored, led by seniors Nikole Solis and Arriana Sparrow who ended the match with two goals apiece.
The Panthers lived on the Lions' third of the field from the very start, ending the first half with 12 shots and five corner kicks. Junior Elizabeth Rapp, making the start in today's contest, scored the first goal of her career and the winning goal for the Panthers at the 18:39 mark, assisted by Brealyn Viamille.
The match would go into the half with the Panthers up by a score.
Out of the half, Southeastern had some chances, getting two shots on goal in the first five minutes of the second half, both of which were saved by FIU's standout goalkeeper Valery Restrepo.
The onslaught for the Panthers started at the 58:04 mark, when the Lions committed a penalty in the box, prompting a penalty kick, which was taken and scored by senior Reagan Bridges for her first goal of the season.
Senior Arianna Sparrow scored her first of the season in the 71st minute, extending the lead to 3-0 for the Panthers. Less than a minute later, another foul by Southeastern Louisiana caused another penalty kick for FIU. This time it was this season's leading goal scorer, Nikole Solis, to take the kick, scoring the fourth goal of the game for the Panthers at the 71:10 mark.
Sparrow and Solis would both score again in the contest, with the New Jersey native knocking in her second of the match at the 79:26 mark to give the Panthers a 5-0 lead.
The Lions scored one goal at the 83:26 mark on a penalty kick, before Nikole Solis netted her second penalty kick of the game less than a minute later, giving the Panthers their most goals of the season as well as their largest margin of victory thus far.
"The past two weeks have been humbling for the program," stated head coach Jonathan Garbar. "We've been a group that has proven the ability to respond to disappointment, extremely effectively. Today is proof of that. It's responding to success where we are still finding our feet. We have now earned the opportunity to learn to do so, after today's impressive performance. The team was excellent in the their preparation, and professional in their approach to this match. For that reason, we earned the result we did. How we respond to it, will be everything."
UP NEXT
FIU will be home again on Thursday, September 12 at 7:00 against Southeast Missouri State. Admission to the game will be free, and will be broadcasted on ESPN+ with live stats available.
BAPTIST HEALTH
The 2024 FIU men's and women's soccer season is presented by Baptist Health, the official sports medicine provider of FIU Athletics.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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