Ginevra Gil | Staff Writer
The FIU Panthers will begin their title defense on Sunday as the 2025 CUSA Tournament gets underway.
The Panthers, who finished fifth in Conference USA, will face the fourth seed Middle Tennessee. FIU faced the Blue Raiders in last year’s conference semi-finals, with the Panthers winning 2-0 on their way to a conference title.
Before traveling to Lynchburg, VA, The Panthers faced Missouri State for senior night, at home to end the 2025 regular season with a 1-1 draw.
The first half began with a dominant start by The Bears, who found the early break in the 16th minute to make the score 1-0. FIU’s best chance came in the 38th minute, when a shot by redshirt junior Maya Maxwell was deflected by the goalkeeper, then denied by the sidepost to keep the score 1-0.
FIU’s chance to equalize turned bleak, when junior goalkeeper Valery Restrepo, was issued a red card for a challenge made outside the box in the 45th minute, leaving FIU down to 10 players.
In the second half, The Panthers held their own. As a cross was sent into the box by redshirt senior Grace Morris, the ball found none other than junior Montelene Dymond to secure her eighth goal of the season and the equalizer in the 64th minute.
From this point on FIU continued to push for the winner. “I didn’t feel like we were playing with 10 players. We were all over them, so I think if we would’ve had that extra player, we definitely would’ve been able to win that game,” said Dymond postgame in an interview with the PantherNOW.
FIU’s golden opportunity for the lead came in the 78th minute when a strike by Dymond hit the crossbar, denying The Panthers their last victory of the 2025 regular season.
At fulltime, Missouri St. finished with 14 shots (6 on target), 5 saves, and 2 corner kicks. Meanwhile FIU finished with 9 shots (6 on target), 5 saves, and 3 corner kicks.
When asked how the gameplan has changed since that result, Dymond said “I always say, it’s hard to beat a team twice. So I think the odds are in our favor. I think we’ve really grown as a team since playing them last, so I think it’s definitely going to be a good game.”
The Panthers are striving to stay in the tournament in the same fashion as the last, where they lifted the 2024 CUSA Tournament trophy for the first time in program history and made it all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
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