By: Anthony Guivas / Staff Writer
After a heart breaking loss at the hands of UMKC on Sept. 2, the Golden Panthers look to go back to their winning ways after facing off against a 4-2-0 Florida Gulf Coast University club at home.
Offensively the Panthers have underperformed this season. Shooting out four of their five opponents this season, the team still has not been able to score the decisive goal when needed. Thus leading to their 2-3-0 record.
With that in focus, the Panthers sought to shed their offensive struggles against a Florida Gulf Coast team, who happen to be 2-0 in away games this year.
With heavy rain hampering the field—making it nearly unplayable—the game, which was set to begin at 6:30 p.m. was delayed until 7:50 p.m.
From the start, FIU and FGCU battled back and forth and it became clear that a Panther victory would not come easily.
FIU broke open in minute 12:53. Co-Captain Kelly Ann Hutchinson took a great assist from Nicole DiPerna, as she had a fantastic strike towards the right side of the goal post.
Panthers continued to persist after their 1-0 lead. They broke through again, but this time the goal came from Sophomore Kim Lopez in minute 14:39 of regulation.
Lopez took a quick pass from Deana Rossi, which then enabled Lopez to make an impressive header—giving FIU a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The first half then pursued on in a back and forth battle, as no team gained full momentum of the game for longer than a play or two. The half concluded with FIU keeping their 2-0 lead.
Once the second half started, FGCU began attacking aggressively and continually kept FIU on their toes with constant strikes.
Then finally after constant battling Gulf Coast broke through FIU’s defense and scored, as FGCU midfielder Kayley Clay took a clean shot from the penalty box. The game was then 2-1, still in favor of FIU.
FGCU carried their momentum throughout the remainder of the game as FIU couldn’t conjure anything productive offensively, with FGCU’s defense smothering them.
With that momentum, FGCU made two devastating goals in the span of 5 minutes. In minute 63:38, FGCU’s Melissa Arnold broke through a weak FIU defense and took a shot beyond the box that tailed away from goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage. It was in minute 68:32 that FGCU nailed down their win with a third goal from Gina Petracco.
This marked the second devastating loss in a row for FIU who now stand at 2-4-0 so far this season.
“Hats off to Gulf Coast. They battled back in the second half and they found a way to win,” said coach Thomas Chestnutt. Coach Chestnutt attests the defeat to the team’s loss in the midfield battle.
“The game was won tonight in the midfield. They ultimately did the better job in the midfield than we did and that’s what won the game,” Chestnutt said.
Regardless of the outcome, FIU is looking ahead as it heads out to Oregon to take on the Beavers in hopes of getting rid of their losing streak.
“After tonight, whether win or loss, you have to move on” Chestnutt said.
About Post Author
