Friday, October 19, 2001

FIU begins homestand with 2-1 ASC win over Philadelphia University

afael Reyes came off the bench and scored his second goal of the season at 76:45, snapping a 1-1 tie and giving FIU a 2-1 Atlantic Soccer Conference victory over Philadelphia University Friday night at University Park.

FIU (6-5, 3-1 ASC) moved over the .500 mark for the first time this season while the Rams (8-7, 4-1 ASC) suffered their first conference loss of the season.

Reyes took a crossing pass from teammate Damien Rose and sent a short three-yard chip shot into the lower left net past Philadelphia goalkeeper Scott Nixon with the game winner.

The Golden Panthers grabbed the early lead when Ezequiel Romero scored on an assist by Matias Asorey, 13:37 into the match. For Asorey, it marked the fifth time in the last seven matches that the junior forward had either scored or assisted on a goal.

But Philadelphia came right back less than a minute later when John Havrilla tied the score on an assist by the league’s leading scorer Andy Zayas.

FIU thought it had taken a lead just 15 seconds prior to the half on a header by Billy Boswell, but the play was called offside and the two teams stayed even at the intermission.

The score was not indicative of the overall stats as the Golden Panthers dominated in every category. FIU out shot the Rams, 29-12, and had 12 corner kicks to three, while forcing Nixon to make 11 saves on the evening. Roy Rosenberg earned the win in goal for FIU with four saves.

“This was an important win for us and a big one as far as the conference standings were concerned,” said FIU head coach Karl Kremser. “We moved the ball well at time and certainly had our chances but were unable to score. But overall, I was pleased. We stretched the field and got some good contributions off the bench.”

With their final six matches of this season all at home, the Golden Panthers host ASC opponent Howard University, Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (a change from the original 1:00 p.m. start time).

The Bison come into the match with a 3-6 mark, which may be somewhat deceiving considering the fact that Howard has been involved in six overtime games thus far, including a 2-1 overtime decision over Florida Atlantic this evening.