Penalty Kicks Hurt FIU As Men's Soccer Loses 2-1

9/3/07

The FIU men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to the Kangaroos of Missouri-Kansas City (2-0-0) Sunday afternoon at University Park. After falling behind 2-0 on a pair of first half penalty kicks, the Golden Panthers (0-1-1) made a valiant effort at a comeback but fell short of equalizing time after time.



The Golden Panthers had an early scoring opportunity when Juan Guerra (Caracas, Venezuela) sent in a cross that was headed by Christian Caporaletti (Miami, Fla.), but the Kangaroo goalkeeper, Brandon Amaya was there to end the threat.



UMKC got on the board first when the referee called FIU for a foul in the box after a Kangaroo free kick was deflected. The ensuing penalty kick was taken by Bryan Perez. FIU goal keeper Kyle Thomas (Jenses Beach, Fla.) guessed correctly and dove to his right, but the shot got by him and found the back of the net.



Trailing 1-0, FIU again threatened when Caporaletti sent a through-pass to David Stovall (Tampa, Fla.) who got past all Kangaroo defenders. However, Stovall's feet would get tangled with the ball causing him to lose control, which ended the FIU run.



In the 37th minute, UMKC got behind the FIU defense, and Kyle Thomas came out in an attempt to snuff out the scoring opportunity, but he was called for a foul and yellow carded when he dove for the ball at the feet of the UMKC attacker. Bryan Perez would convert the penalty kick to put UMKC up by two.



In the second half, FIU would cut the lead in half when Steven Cabas (Miami, Fla.) found the back of the net. After UMKC was whistled for a yellow card just outside the box, Juan Guerra took the free kick that was deflected by the Kangaroo defense. After the deflection, Kabas took the shot from just inside the box that got past the Kangaroo goalkeeper for FIU's first goal of the season.



FIU's best opportunity to equalize came in the 64th minute when Richard Martinez (Hialeah, Fla.) made a run on the left side and sent a low pass across the box to a charging Steven Cabas. The pass went just past the reach of a wide open Cabas, ending the Golden Panther attack.



In the 67th minute, it looked like FIU would finally draw even when a corner kick by Juan Guerra was headed towards the net by Levi Coleman (Broken Arrow, Okla.). However, Coleman's header was deflected out by UMKC's John David Hernandez.



FIU would have several other opportunities the rest of the match, but could not finish on any of them as the Kangaroos held on for their second victory of the season.



The loss drops FIU to 0-1-1 on the season.