FIU men’s soccer team beats USF to win American Athletic Conference title
FIU men’s soccer star Stephen Afrifa yelled to no one in particular.
“We got two!
“We got two!”
Afrifa then hugged teammate Lucas Christensen, who — coincidentally — wears jersey No. 2.
That was a slice of the joyous and jubilant scene at FIU Soccer Stadium on Sunday as the top-seeded Panthers defeated the third-seeded South Florida Bulls 2-0 to win the American Athletic Conference postseason title.
Earlier this season, FIU (13-4-1) also won the AAC regular-season title, which is what Afrifa meant about “we got two” — as in trophies.
Whether FIU ultimately wins the third trophy it wants — the one awarded for a national championship — won’t be known for a while.
But what is known is that the tournament selection show will play out Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
By winning the conference postseason tournament, FIU is automatically in the field of 48, but Panthers coach Kyle Russell believes his squad has a great chance at getting a first-round bye, given to the top 16 seeds.
Either way, Russell said it’s a lock FIU will host NCAA tournament games this week.
“Our RPI is No. 12 nationally at the moment,” Russell said. “I believe we will host on Thursday or, if we get the bye, we will host on Sunday.”
With that bye, FIU would need five wins to win the championship. If not, the total required is six wins.
In Sunday’s AAC final, with 24:33 expired, Bernardo Dos Santos Monteiro blasted a shot from just inside the box, getting the ball past USF goalie Jackson Weyman, who was screened on the play.
The ball also appeared to be deflected, although Monteiro still got credit for the goal.
“Bernardo created something out of nothing, and that’s something we want,” Russell said. “I want our guys to take chances.
“After that, you could feel our crowd getting into it and giving us more energy.”
That energy resulted in FIU’s second goal, which came on David Garcia’s header with 41:51 gone in the first half.
The play started with Joao Domingues’ corner kick, which went long. Carlos Schermann retrieved it with a header, which connected with Garcia.
Goalie Kevin Harr recorded his third straight shutout, and FIU’s fans got an assist for their support, which included enthusiastic yelling from the Panthers’ baseball team.
Russell said new FIU coach Rich Witten has done a great job of encouraging his players to support Panthers sports, and that was evident on Sunday.
“Our baseball players were sitting in their trucks, right behind the goal, making a lot of noise,” Russell said. “When we scored, our guys were jumping into the fence to get patted on the back by the baseball players.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ FIU’s men’s basketball team (2-0) will get its first true test of the season on Tuesday night when it visits North Carolina State.
▪ NSU’s women’s soccer team (7-6-4) ended its season with a 2-1 loss to West Florida in the second round of the NCAA tournament (Division II).
▪ Barry’s men’s soccer team (11-3-3) has advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division II tournament, date to be announced. Barry’s women’s volleyball team is 25-5 and awaiting an NCAA tournament bid.
St. Thomas University has made the NAIA tournament in two sports set to begin the playoffs next week: men’s soccer and women’s volleyball. The STU football team (9-2) is ranked 17th in the nation and has tied a program record for wins. The football team is in line for a possible berth in the NAIA national playoffs.
This story was originally published November 13, 2022 at 9:04 PM.