ORLANDO, Fla. (October 3, 2012) – The FIU men’s soccer (6-2-2, 0-1-1 C-USA) couldn’t overcome a UCF (4-3-2, 1-0-0 C-USA) penalty kick in a 1-0 loss to the Knights Wednesday evening.

“Our team played very well today,” Head Coach Kenny Arena said. “We controlled the ball for the majority of the game and did a good job creating high quality chances. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our shots on goal. UCF is a good team and it was nice to be a part of a high level game. We have nothing to be ashamed of and look forward to getting home to play UAB on Saturday.”

The first half was a see-saw battle with the two defenses taking center stage. Freshman goalkeeper Robin Spiegel made two of his three saves in the contest, with one coming in the final two minutes of the first half. Freshman Daniel Gonzalez had an opportunity in the 11^th minute when his shot narrowly missed going in, striking the post, resulting in a UCF goal kick.  

Gonzalez was just as aggressive in the second half. In the 55^th minute, Gonzalez again had a great opportunity to score, but his ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into UCF’s possession.

In the 65^th minute, UCF scored on a penalty kick to take a 1-0 advantage. FIU continued to press the Knights defense, taking five shots in the final 20 minutes of the match, including a shot by the keeper Spiegel, which was blocked with 10 seconds left in the match. The Panthers ultimately fell 1-0, suffering its first conference loss of the season.   

The Panthers will return home for just the third time this season on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 7:00 p.m., to take on the UAB Blazers at the FIU Soccer Stadium. The game is a double Panther Points night and international students are encouraged to attend the match, wearing their country’s flags. The first 50 fans in attendance will also receive an FIU drawstring bag.

For tickets to all FIU home matches, call the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com. Fans can follow @FIUMensSoccer on Twitter and find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FIUMensSoccer. Fans can also watch all FIU men’s soccer home matches live on FIUSports.com on our free webcasts.
 

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.

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