The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Florida International
Blazers Fall At FIU, 2-1
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2008
MIAMI, Fla. - The UAB men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision at Florida International on Saturday night. The loss marked the eighth one-goal defeat in the Blazers' nine losses on the campaign.
"This was a very tough loss," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "I felt like our guys played hard and I am proud of their effort. It seemed like FIU was playing with 14 guys all night. We were forced to chase the game and we scored a great goal to tie it up. We just couldn't hang on."
The Golden Panthers (3-9-2, 2-4 C-USA) opened the scoring at the 21:26 mark when a Diego Tamburus corner kick found Cory Kendall on the back post. Kendall then hammered home a shot to give his team a 1-0 lead.
The Blazers (5-9-3, 1-5-1) would strike back just 4:39 into the second half on a goal by sophomore forward Kevin Sawchak. The Atlanta, Ga. native scored his fourth goal of the season and second goal in as many games when he took the rebound off a shot from midfielder Two-Boys Gumede and deposited the shot from eight-yards out to even things at 1-1.
However, FIU would respond at the 59:15 mark when Phillip Fisher headed a pass from Tamburus past UAB goalkeeper Wes Johnson for the game-winning goal.
Both teams had five shots on goal, but UAB owned a 13-11 shots advantage, including a 6-3 edge in the second half. Johnson finished the contest with three saves, while FIU goalkeeper Shane Lopez had four saves en route to the victory.
UAB will now be in a must-win situation in the final regular season game of the year in order to earn a spot in the 2008 Conference USA Tournament. The Blazers will face the Marshall Thundering Herd on Friday at 7 p.m. on senior night at West Campus Field.
"The Marshall game is our season," Getman said. "It's the biggest game of the year because it's win or go home. There is going to be a lot of emotion because it's senior night and everything will be on the line. We are hoping for a great crowd to come out and support us for this one."
The evening will highlight the final home game for UAB's seven seniors: Derek Rios, Frank Brown, Logan Alexander, Shane Elsner, Carlo Schiavoni, Trey Gregory and Mark Stachelski. There will be free food and drinks at a pre-game tailgate for students and season ticket holders beginning at 5:30 p.m.
