By: Joel Delgado / Sports Director
Just over two weeks ago, Thomas Chestnutt’s team appeared to be in some serious trouble.
Having just gotten smoked on the road in an embarrassing 7-0 shutout loss to Oregon State and falling three games below .500, it appeared as if things were beginning to fall apart.
Fast forward to today, those problems appear to be a nearly unrecognizable speck in the rearview mirror of the season.
Propelled by freshman Ashleigh Shim’s two goals, the Golden Panthers soundly defeated the visiting South Alabama Jaguars on Oct. 2 for their fifth consecutive victory and are now sitting atop the Sun Belt Conference standings along with Denver and North Texas.
They have not lost a match since that blowout loss to the Beavers, and now they are on pace to live up to the raised expectations that were placed on them before the season began.
Shim was able to crack an early stalemate between both teams with a goal in the 23rd minute of play, firing a shot into the lower-left corner of the goal past Jaguar keeper Melissa Drish to give the Golden Panthers (7-5-0, 4-0-0 SBC) the lead.
The Jaguars (9-2-2, 2-2-1 SBC), who came into the Sun Belt showdown on Oct. 2 with a 10-match unbeaten streak and one of the more potent offenses in the conference, were unable to deal with the red-hot Golden Panthers.
South Alabama was suffocated for most of the match by a stingy FIU backline, and goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage only needed to make two saves throughout the entire game to secure her third shutout of the season in net.
After taking their one-goal lead into the second half of play, the Golden Panthers were clinging on to that edge until the 85th minute, when Shin scored her second goal of the night after receiving a pass from Chelsea Leiva, dousing any hopes of a possible comeback for South Alabama.
STRONG RESTART
The win helped the Golden Panthers keep pace in Sun Belt play while remaining unbeaten in conference matchups.
If FIU can come away with a victory on the road against Western Kentucky on Oct. 7 in Bowling Green, Ky., they will match their hot start in conference play from a year ago when they defeated five Sun Belt foes in a row.
So far, through four conference games, FIU has been nothing short of dominant, outscoring Sun Belt opponents 9-2 in victories over UALR, Arkansas State, Troy and South Alabama.
With just over half the season already completed, the Golden Panthers’ seven remaining games are all against conference opponents, four of which are at FIU Soccer Stadium.
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