The FIU men’s soccer team lost a decisive match against division rival Florida Atlantic 2-1 on a rainy Sunday night at home, dropping the team’s record to 4-5-4.
The Panthers lost yet another game in what has been a season full of inconsistencies and irregular play by the team.
It took most of the game for the goals to arrive, as FIU grabbed the lead in the 72nd minute as senior Diego Castillo scored his second goal of the season.
The happiness was short-lived by the Panthers, when FAU was able to draw level just seven minutes later from the penalty spot.
Shortly after, FAU took the lead in the 83rd minute.
This marked the fourth game of the season in which the Panthers were not able to hold on to the lead and ended up either losing or tying the game to drop points.
FIU recorded 16 shots, five more than the visiting team, with five of them being on target. They also had more corner kicks, seven, and committed 15 fouls compared to FAU’s 9.
Both teams were forced to play most of the match with 10 men as both FIU’s Eduardo Mustre and FAU’s Jozo Cancar received a red card after just 30 minutes of play.
The one bright spot of the night was junior goalkeeper Beltran Fernandez making his FIU debut after not playing any minutes during the previous season. He recorded one save and had both goals scored on him before being substituted by one of the best players of season for the Panthers, sophomore Nigel Van Haveren.
The standout keeper from the Netherlands has had a busy campaign so far. He has appeared in all of the Panthers games and is leading the conference in saves and saves per game despite keeping a clean sheet in only two matches.
After their fifth defeat of the season, the Panthers find themselves fifth in the American Conference standings with just two games left in the regular season.
The team has not won in their previous three matches as their last win came over UAB at the beginning of October.
FIU drops below .500 as its chances to reach the AAC Championship slowly disappear. The team will have to be at their best for their final two games of the regular season when they face Temple away on Oct. 26 and Memphis at home on Nov. 1.
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