The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
FIU
UAB Falls at FIU 2-1
11/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Final Stats (PDF)
MIAMI, Fla. – The UAB men’s soccer team lost to FIU 2-1 on Saturday night playing in adverse weather conditions. The game was the final game of the Conference USA regular season as both teams now move into postseason play and will rematch each other in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament. The Blazers’ record falls to 6-8-3 overall and 2-5-1 in C-USA while the Panthers stand at 8-6-2 and 5-2-1 in conference.
“For 15 minutes, we really struggled with the conditions and how the ball skipped on the wet field,” said UAB head coach Mike Getman. “After that, we settled in nicely and scored a great goal to tie the match. Give FIU credit, they are a terrific team and found a way to get the winning goal. We look forward to seeing them again in a few days.”
The Panthers were first on the board in this contest. Luis Betancur tallied his first goal of the season placed the ball into the lower left corner of the goal to open the game at 1-0 for FIU in the 11th minute.
UAB would not trail for long as senior James Ngoe equalized in the 23rd minute off a well-placed through ball from David Valverde. The goal was his second of the season and Valverde's second assist of the year and put the Blazers back into the contest.
FIU took the lead back in the 65th minute when Santiago Patino tacked on his eighth goal of the season to give his team the 2-1 advantage. UAB was able to fire off two more shots following the goal but neither hit the target.
Blazers goalkeeper finished with six saves to push his season total to 71, the highest-mark in Conference USA this season. For his career, he now has stopped 188 shots leaving him 12 saves shy of reaching 200 career saves.
UAB enters the postseason as the sixth seed in the Conference USA Tournament while FIU is the third seed. The game is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, November 9 with the kick-off time TBA.
