Late Goal Sinks Trojans In Sun Belt Tournament

Wednesday, November 3

Bowling Green, KY

1:00 p.m.

Troy University

Florida International University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

Late Goal Sinks Trojans In Sun Belt Tournament

11/3/2010 2:57:36 PM | Soccer

FIU scored a late goal minutes after Troy had one waved off in the second half for the victory

By: Ben Maxwell

Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Playing in their second consecutive Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the Troy University Trojans found themselves battling the elements as much as their opponent, the FIU Golden Panthers in the first round of play Wednesday afternoon.

The Trojans and FIU battled each other for the first 80 minutes of the contest, before a set piece just outside the box gave the Golden Panthers a 2-1 victory; sending them to the semifinals to face top-seeded Denver on Thursday. The Trojans end the season with their best record in school history at 11-8-1.

“We had a good effort today,” Troy head coach Chris Bentley. “The game could have gone either way.”

The two teams fought for the lead in the first half with the Trojans taking early command on a Ruth Sutcliffe goal in the 15th minute. The sophomore hit a shot over the keeper's head, hitting the cross bar and finding the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead.

However, fourth-seeded FIU answered in the 17th minute when Nicole Diperna took a rebound off of Troy keeper Ashley Branham on a missed shot from Kim Lopez to tie the game at 1-all.

For the next 50 minutes the two teams battled to a stalemate until the Trojans scored an apparent go ahead goal in the 67th minute of play. Senior Jill Pinder headed the ball down and the Trojans were able to put the ball in the back of the net, but as they were celebrating, an offside call was made wiping the goal off the board.

“It was unfortunate,” Bentley said. “It is just one of those things that can happen in a split second. I am not sure what happened around the goal, but the call was made and we just have to be able to rebound from that.”

Over the next 15 minutes, the two teams traded possession until a foul was called just outside the box on Troy in the 82nd minute setting up the set piece for FIU. April Perry addressed the ball for the Golden Panthers as two FIU players played decoy over the ball, and she knocked it around the wall. The ball went through the defenders and past Branham for the goal, which proved to be the game-winner.

A flurry of opportunities for the Trojans went awry in the final eight minutes of action, as they pressed the issue offensively. The team had a couple of chances on corner kicks in the final three minutes, but the FIU defense proved too tough; ending the season for Troy.

With the final whistle, the storied careers of Sydney Beasley, April Madden, Ceil Martinec, Jill Pinder and Carley Zurfluh came to an end.

Pinder leaves the school as the all-time scoring leader and the leader in career goals; while Martinec leaves having played the second-most games in school history (73) – finishing just behind Erin Doud and Tara Petrucci. She also finished third in career starts behind Doud and Petrucci.

The senior class recorded the most wins in school history, as well as setting the school record for goals against average over the same time period.

“We are going to miss our seniors,” Bentley said. “They have left a lasting legacy that will be hard to live up to. They will be amazing in whatever they do and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”