MIAMI, Fla. — Channing Machen scored her first goal of the season, but FIU jumped out to a 2-0 lead and defeated UTSA by a score of 3-1 in the Conference USA opener for both squads on Friday night.
Machen’s goal came in the 36th minute for the Roadrunners (0-8-1, 0-1 C-USA) and she became the third rookie to find the back of the net this fall. Meanwhile, Jenny Trommer picked up her first point of the campaign with the assist on Machen’s goal.
Three different players scored for the Panthers (5-5, 1-0 C-USA), who bounced back from a 6-1 loss to Florida last Sunday. Lyrik Fryer and Alyssa Robinson each netted their fourth goals of the season to lead the offense.
FIU struck first with a goal in the eighth minute, as Madlen Weinhardt found Fryer off a corner kick for the first score of the match. The Panthers would double their lead to 2-0 in the 19th minute on Scarlet Montoya’s first goal of the fall.
However, the Roadrunners sliced the deficit in half on Machen’s strike in the 36th minute. The Grand Prairie native took a pass from Trommer and put a shot through traffic and past goalie Nevena Stojakovic to pull UTSA within a goal.
Neither team managed to score for much of the second half, but the Panthers broke through in the 89th minute on Robinson’s goal that put the game out of reach.
The Roadrunners will be back in action at 12 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, Sept. 27, when they travel to Boca Raton, Fla., to take on Florida Atlantic (6-5, 0-1 C-USA).