McMurtie scores first two goals of season to help FIU sweep the weekend

Santiago Archieri/ Contributing Writer

Talia McMurtie scored her first two goals of the season to carry the Panthers (8-7-0, 4-2 C-USA)  to wins against Southern Miss (3-9-3, 1-5 C-USA) and Louisiana Tech (9-7-0, 2-4 C-USA) over the weekend.

The Panthers started their home-stand against the Southern Miss Golden Owls on Friday October 9. The first half was quiet until the 37th minute, when Alyssa Robinson had a  strike from outside the box that rattled off the top post and into the hands of the keeper. Southern Miss took an advantage of the miss and took off on a counter attack, in which they almost capitalized in as they had their first shot of the game and it just missed over the goal.

FIU out-shot Southern Miss 10-3 as the first half came to a close with the score leveled at 0. However, it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Lyrik Fryer sent a cross directly to Talia McMurtie, who had an emphatic left footed strike into the back of the net. The 47th minute goal marked McMurtie’s first of the season.

The rest of the second half would easily belong to FIU. The Panthers out-shout Southern Miss by a total of 17-6, including another close call in 78th minute right outside the box. The call was centimeters from being a penalty, but it led to a Panther cross into the box that almost resulted in a 2-0 FIU lead after the header barely went wide right of the goal.

FIU would end their two game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over Southern Miss, then carried their momentum into Sunday’s matchup against the Louisiana Tech Lady Techster’s.

The Panther’s offensive tempo was at full effect in the first half, as they controlled the game with 7 total shots, 3 on goal in which Kylee Seto of the Lady Techster’s had to save. Louisiana Tech would have one lone shot in the first half. Despite the Panthers domination, both teams headed into the half with the game notched at 0.

Talia McMurtie would break the second early in the second half yet again for FIU. McMurtie headed in a cross from senior Malden Weinhardt, and it marked her second goal of the season and weekend. McMurtie’s 50th minute header put the Panthers up 1-0.

In the 83rd minute, Scarlet Montoya delivered a cross to Ellen Crist, who beat the keeper and had an open net goal. It would be Crist’s fourth goal of the season, and it would give the Panthers a 2-0 lead, and eventually the win.

The Panthers improved to 4-2 in conference play, and 7-2 at home, winning their last four home contests. Over the weekend, the FIU defense had two clean sheet’s, and the team is now at five clean sheet’s for the season.