FIU Panthers Prowl

FIU women's soccer 2 First Team All-Sun Belt, 3 Second Team

On the eve of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, junior forward Chelsea Leiva, FIU's leader in goals and points, and redshirt junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage were named First Team All-Sun Belt. Sophomore midfielders Johanna Volz and Marie Egan and sophomore defender Nikki Rios were named to the Second Team.

For Leiva, it's her third All-Sun Belt honor, her second First Team honor. Savage's freshmen year and redshirt sophomore year ended with her being named to the Second Team. As far as individual honors, it completes a nice rebound season for Egan and Rios, who suffered season-ending injuries as freshmen.

Before Monday's practice, their last before leaving for Mobile and the Sun Belt tournament, which they'll start Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Troy.

 

 

FIU favored Saturday; a USA minute

FIU opened Sunday as a 5.5-point favorite over South Alabama and is now down to 3.5 or 4 in most places, despite the news that quarterback Jake Medlock would play Saturday (which Mario Cristobal reiterated on the Sun Belt conference call Monday). The over/under, which started at 51, has gone up to 52.5.

South Alabama, 2-6 overall, is in its first year of FBS (nee Division I) play and fourth season as a program. Recently, USA lost by 36-29 to Arkansas State, beat FAU in overtime and lost 38-24 to Louisiana-Monroe in its last three games.

"We've gotten better the last three weeks and a lot of that's due to our offense getting better," South Alabama coach Joey Jones said on the Sun Belt conference call. "We struggled offensively earlier in the year. We were rotating quarterbacks. We've gone with one quarterback and that's really lhelped us. Our defense has been playing pretty good most of the year."

And that is your USA Minute.