MIAMI — With 33 seconds remaining in overtime, FIU’s Roberto De Sousa netted the golden goal off a corner kick, to lift the Panther to a 1-0 win over No. 21 Kentucky men’s soccer, taking advantage of a UK red card earlier in the game, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at the FIU Soccer Complex.
With seconds clicking down on the overtime period and the game in a scoreless tie, FIU lofted a corner into the box. A physical scrap ensued in the box, with UK defender Pedro Andreoni taking a FIU player’s arm to the face for a black eye and UK goalkeeper Tyler Beadle taken to the ground in the melee, with De Sousa knocking in his first goal of the season for the game winner.
Kentucky (7-5-1, 0-2-0 Conference USA) dominated the game throughout despite playing with only 10 men after sophomore Brendan Murphy was saddled with a red card in the 78th minute. UK owned a 13-7 advantage in shots and a 3-2 mark in corner kicks, taking six shots on goal to FIU’s three. All told in the physical contest, six cards were issued and 24 fouls were called.
FIU (4-4-2, 1-1-0 C-USA) got a good outing from keeper Rodney Greiling, who saved a career-high six shots in the game. Beadle turned in two saves, including one acrobatic one-handed stop of a FIU scoring chance.
Kentucky was led by seniors C.J. Tappel, Josh McCrary and Josh Mulvany, who each fired two shots, along with Andreoni. Murphy, Matt Lodge, Tyler Riggs, Cameron Wilder and Jacob Kemper each tallied a shot in the game. Riggs, who leads UK with nine goals, had UK’s best chance in the game, just missing his shot that would’ve put the Wildcats on the board.
The trip to Florida wraps up a brutal travel stretch for the Wildcats, who have ventured to California, South Carolina, Nebraska, and the six-day trip to Florida during the stretch. All told during that span, UK traveled over 9,700 miles in 15 days, facing No. 3 Creighton, No. 13 Cal, No. 10 UCF, No. 15 Brown, Stanford and FIU.
UK breaks from the travel slate for three consecutive home games, beginning on Wednesday, when the Wildcats host C-USA foe Marshall at 7 p.m. ET at the UK Soccer Complex.
