MIAMI (October 6, 2012) – The FIU men’s soccer team couldn’t overcome a two-goal deficit, dropping a 2-1 decision to the UAB Blazers Saturday evening at the FIU Soccer Stadium in Miami, Fla.

FIU’s (6-3-2, 0-2-1 C-USA) goal came off the foot of sophomore Christopher Moffett who, after controlling the ball off of a deflection, shot to his left and hit the post. The ball then bounced to the opposite side of the net for his first-career goal.

“The ball came back out and I took one touch up and saw the goalie out and shot and luckily, it went in,” said Moffett. “But we just have to work better as a team to make these games more about our opportunities and less of theirs. We just have to keep working hard in practice. It’s not just about my goal or anybody else’s goal, it’s about the team, us coming together to get a victory.”  

Although the result is a loss on the schedule, the Panthers dominated the Blazers (6-3-2, 1-1-0 C-USA) in almost every category. FIU out-shot UAB, 24-13, and had 13 corner kicks to only five for the visitors. Senior defender Jo Dawkins was heavily involved in the offense with a career-high five shots.  

At the 10-minute mark of the game, the Panthers went down a score early when UAB’s Chase Wickham beat FIU goalkeeper Robin Spiegel to his left from point-blank range.

Minutes before the goal, FIU had an early opportunity when Icaro DeOliveira ripped a shot that was just tipped by the UAB keeper. DeOliveira was tied for second on the team with three shots in the game.

With time winding down in the first half, senior Lucas DiCroce almost tied the match when he bent a free kick over a UAB wall. The keeper, Raphael Ville, laid out to his left to make a spectacular save and preserve the Blazers 1-0 advantage.

Twelve minutes into the second half, the Blazers went ahead 2-0 on a penalty kick by Mladen Lemez. FIU kept the pressure on UAB and that was evident in the 62^nd minute when sophomore Roberto De Sousa stole the ball from a UAB defender and passed it to sophomore Quentin Albrecht in stride. Albrecht dribbled the ball towards the goal and just before he was able to get a shot off, Ville came up and dove on the ball to prevent an FIU scoring opportunity.

The Panthers would get back into the match in the 78^th minute when Moffett scored from 15 yards out to cut the Blazers advantage to 2-1. The Panthers kept pressing but ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net to tie the match, falling 2-1 in Conference USA action.  

“I think we just defended poorly on two plays, “Head Coach Kenny Arena said. “One of their scores came off of a turnover that we still had a chance to defend in our box. But, we made it way too easy for them to score. The second one came off of a foul in the area, giving them a PK. Those two plays aside, I thought we were really good. We were constantly putting them under pressure and showed ability to go forward. We have to stop giving up the first goal and stop making silly fouls in our box.”

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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