#25 FIU Men’s Soccer Records Hard Earned Draw Against #4 SMU

MIAMI, FL – The FIU Panthers’ four-game winning streak came to a close on Sunday as the SMU Mustangs came into town and dropped two goals on the Panthers, but FIU fought back and achieved two of their own to finish the match with a 2-2 draw.

SMU wasted no time as in the 19th minute Niv Berkovitz scored the first of two goals for the Mustangs, bouncing on top with a 1-0 lead.

Not even ten minutes later, a foul on FIU inside the box gave the Mustangs their second goal of the night after Jelldrik Dallmann converted the penalty kick, doubling their lead.

As the first half of action came to a close, the Panthers were able to get one back thanks to Edgar Aguilar who was assisted by Tim Schels. The Mustangs still led by a score of 2-1, but the Panthers had momentum on their side.

The second half of action saw the Panthers tie the game up in the 54th minute.

After Diego Castillo made an attempt to put the ball inside the net and missed, Bernardo Dos Santos Monteiro was able to get the rebound from goalie Cole Johnson and kicked it in to tie the game up at two each.

All in all, not as many shots were taken as you would have thought. Panthers goalie Tyler Hogan recorded two saves while Mustangs goalie Cole Johnson had one.

The big issue for FIU was silly mistakes. They ended the night with four yellow cards as the Mustangs only had two. All in all, the Panthers were able to fight for a tie against the third-best team in the nation, not the worst result in the world.

FIU now has a 6-2-3 record, and is currently in third place in the AAC, right behind Charlotte and SMU. The Panthers will stay in Miami to host Saint Mary’s Gaels on Saturday, October 14th at 7pm.