HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Old Dominion men's soccer team will face the No. 3 seed FIU Panthers on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the 2016 Conference USA Men's Soccer Tournament. Both teams picked up 2-1 victories over their opponents Wednesday night to advance to round two of competition.
OLD DOMINION (6-8-2, 2-5-1)
The Monarchs picked up an important 2-1 victory over the 2nd seeded (RV) South Carolina Gamecocks on Wednesday night that advanced them to the semifinals of the 2016 C-USA Tournament.
Kaio DaSilva and Niko Klosterhalfen scored the two Monarch goals in the first half to give ODU the early lead going into halftime. Jimmy Filerman assisted on both goals and now has five on the season. Sebastien Hauret got in on the first goal to record his seventh assist of the season.
The Old Dominion defense played some of its best soccer of the season Wednesday against South Carolina en route to their 2-1 victory. They kept 21 of 22 shot attempts by the Gamecocks out of the net, including 14 in the second half alone. Alex Tiesenhausen stopped five shots on goal by the Gamecocks and the defensive ine blocked numerous others in an impressive performance.
FIU (9-6-2, 5-2-1)
No. 3 seed FIU was the only top-seeded team to survive Wednesday’s C-USA tournament quarterfinals. They narrowly defeated the Blazers of UAB, 2-1, as freshman Joris Ahlinvi scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute to prevent an overtime period.
Ahlinvi was the star Wednesday night as he scored both Panther goals in the victory to send FIU to the semifinals against Old Dominion. With the two goals Wednesday night against UAB, Ahlinvi moved into second on the team in goals with five on the season behind only Santiago Patino who has eight.
Patino leads the team in points with 16 from his eight goals, while Ahlinvi and Luis Betancur sit tied in second with 10 points each.
FIU’s keeper, Arthur Clapot, has played 14 matches totaling 1,276 minutes in net. He has recorded 38 saves and three shutouts while allowing 21 goals for a 1.48 goals-against average. The Panthers are on a six-game winning streak heading into Friday’s match.
SERIES HISTORY
The Monarchs have lost the last three encounters against the Panthers including last years 4-2 quarterfinal loss in the 2015 C-USA Men’s Soccer Tournament. FIU leads the series 3-2 having won the last three match-ups.
The two squads have faced off once already in the regular season with the Panthers emerging the winners 4-1. FIU has scored four goals in two of the last three matches against Old Dominion including winning 4-1 on Oct. 29, 2016 and 4-2 on Nov. 11, 2015 in the 2015 C-USA quarterfinals.
LOOKING FORWARD
The winner of Friday’s match will move on to the 2016 Conference USA Men’s Soccer Championship match on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. They will face the winner of the 4:30 match between No. 1 seed, 5th ranked Charlotte and the No. 5 seed New Mexico (RV).