Well, at least one FIU team facing Western Kentucky in a defensive struggle got the job done in the clutch.
Freshman Johanna Volz probably barely knew what to do with her legs the only other time FIU made the NCAA tournament, in 1993. After all, she was 1.
Volz knew what to do with her kicking leg Saturday, burying the winning goal in a penalty kick shootout against Western Kentucky that gave FIU the Sun Belt title and an NCAA tournament bid.
"In penalty kicks, the shooter should theoretically score every time," FIU coach Thomas Chestnutt said. "But factor in the magnitue of hte game, fatigue and that goal starts to look smaller and the goalkeeper looks bigger."
On the philosophy that the first kick is the most important and wanting a cool head, Chestnutt chose senior defender April Perry. She got FIU off to a great start and Savage wound up stopping two penalties from Western.
After a scoreless regulation and overtime, FIU goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage outdueled All-Sun Belt goalkeeper Libby Stout as FIU outscored Western 4-3 in kicks. Western outshot FIU 19-8 in regulation with all 19 shots coming after halftime.
"For a half, we had the better of a play," Chestnutt said. "In the second half, we were completely taken out of the game. In overtime, both teams had their chances.
"I'm just really proud of the girls, the way they fought. Credit to Western Kentucky, they did the same. Scarlett (Montoya) had a shot that one of their girls saved off the line."
Nicole DiPerna was named the tournament's outstanding player. Volz, Chelsea Leiva, Ashleigh Shim and Kim Lopez also made the All-Tournament team. Somehow, Stout was chosen over Savage as the all-tournament keeper. Yeah.
FIU's NCAA match will be announced Monday afternoon.
(For those wondering, it's my wife's birthday, so I wasn't in Bowling Green for the 10-9 football loss. There won't be an extensive postgame blog, at least not by me.)
UM SUCK , FIU THE TOP DOG OF FOOTBALL ;)
Posted by: Salvationtweet | November 06, 2011 at 08:19 AM
There is no I in team but there is one in FIU! U better recognize. Miamis real university
Posted by: scUm | November 06, 2011 at 08:19 AM
LOL..LOL...LOL...fiWhat a joke...3 fgs against western kentucky?
Posted by: oh well | November 06, 2011 at 11:21 AM
FIUBLUEandGold,
Ur a joke of a fiu fan. Please do us all a favor and stop making Cuban thug references. How prejudice and ignorant. Second, do us all a favor and just leave this blog. As is evident why u had to leave the fiugoldenpanthers.com blog. It is obvious that even fiu fans disagree and cant stand u. Goodbye u joke of a person
Posted by: Occupy these nutz | November 06, 2011 at 06:39 PM
Wouldn't sweat the one loss, FIU fans all live in their "inevitable" gumdrop waterfall future anyway, no amount of losing can take that away.
Serious question though - since FIU isn't going to a bowl, shouldn't they start force feeding T.Y. Hilton?
Hilton is around the 15th best WR prospect for the draft right now, CBSSports has him the 125th best prospect overall, which translates to an early fourth round pick.
So if FIU could raise his stock and get a player drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL draft, wouldn't that do more for the program than anything else the team could do with this season?
Posted by: Buc Nasty | November 07, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Go Noles!!! Hopefully they can put the same whooping they gave UM last year.
Posted by: NYCFIUFan | November 07, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Buc -- Yep, big numbers will raise T.Y. Hilton's draft stock. Just like they raised the stocks of Davone Bess and Wes Welker, who after stellar college careers got drafted in the...oh, right, didn't get drafted.
Despite their many well-documented failures, NFL scouts aren't college fantasy football players, drafting on numbers out of preseason magazines. They'll have every Hilton game tape, have seen him play in person a number of times, have watched him practice, work out and will interview him. Gaudy statistics won't raise his profile for NFL teams.
Posted by: David J. Neal | November 07, 2011 at 01:20 PM
Well Bess and Welker wouldn't have even gotten NFL tryouts if not for their gaudy stats so I don't know that they're comparable to T.Y. Hilton's situation.
But I guess you're right that it's too late for Hilton to prove himself on the field, hopefully he gets invited to the combine.
Posted by: Buc Nasty | November 07, 2011 at 06:47 PM
Sure, Bess and Welker would've gotten tryouts. There are guys signed as rookie free agents who barely played their final year in college or played for truly obscure I-AA schools. A wide receiver at a D-I school, all someone has to do is like the way you run a route and you'll get signed as an undrafted FA.
Posted by: David J. Neal | November 07, 2011 at 09:56 PM