Second half surge propels Golden Panthers

By: Jackson Wolek / Staff Writer

In what can be described as two completly different games in one, FIU was able to pull out a victory against Western Kentucky on Oct. 8 to remain 5-0 in the conference and 8-4-1 overall.

In the first half of the game, both teams battled it out defensively with a total of six shots combined by both teams.

Neither team seemed to have the advantage, momentum, or opportunities to score very much for the first 45 minutes.

That would come to change, as the second half started off with a bang. Just four minutes and thirty five seconds in, the leading goal scorer for WKU, Mallory Outerbridge, got a penalty shot and made good on it, putting the Toppers up 1-0.

“I was just thinking about the penalty shots I stopped at Florida Gulf Coast,” said goalkeeper Melanie Raimo. “I just tried focusing on doing it again, but it didn’t quite happen.”

Her teammates certainly had her back after the early second-half goal though, as approximately seven minutes later, Katrina Rose was able to take the pass from Kelsey Rene and connect, tying the game at one a piece.

After the goal, it seemed that the Golden Panthers had took the momentum, as they got far more opportunities to score than WKU did.

The game was an intense battle to see who could take the lead when about twenty minutes later, Kassandra Sorzano made ball touch cotton and score her fifth goal of the year on a corner from April Perry to put FIU up 2-1 with just 14 minutes remaining.

“The first goal was just going off of what we did in practice, and the second goal was just off the opening and I just shot it” said Rose on her two goals.

All was good for the Panthers, and right when it looked like it was going to end that way, in came Outerbridge six minutes later to score her second goal of the game, making it a tying the board up once again.

The game was starting to seem increasing likely to go into overtime, until Rose was able to score once again, this time getting the assist from Chelsea Leiva, and putting the Panthers back up 3-2.

In a game like this, no lead was safe, and  FIU must have known that because with 39 seconds to go, Chelsea Leiva scored the final insurance goal from Nicole DiPerna to put the game in the bag at 4-2.

“They came back to make it 2-2, and it could have took the wind out of our sails, but we felt the confidence in the team is high and they just kept going with the third one and then the fourth one, and we could have found more, but it was certainly a great performance tonight,” said Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt.

FIU will go on to take Middle Tennessee  at home on Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. Although FIU loses there shutout streak, they continue their five-game winning streak.