FIU's Alex Martinez backhands a shot against Minnesota

TUCSON, ARIZONA - Florida International University's Alex Lipin (Fr., Miami, FL) made his seventh goal of the game count as he drilled a shot with 3:11 left in the fourth period for what became the game-winning goal as the Golden Panthers outlasted a furious comeback by the University of Minnesota to knock off the Gophers 15-14 in the first round of the 2007 National Collegiate Club Championship.

Leading 11-8 through three periods of play, FIU saw its lead dwindle to 12-10 with 5:38 left in the fourth period, but Alex Martinez (Sr., Miami, FL) reestablished the margin at three goals with a score at 4:59 for a 13-10 lead. Minnesota responded on a give-and-go goal by Robert Pesun (Gr., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) four seconds later, but the Panthers countered with an exclusion goal by Martinez with 4:18 left on the game clock and Lipin's decider 67 seconds later to go ahead 15-11.

The Gophers attempted to dig themselves out of the hole as Pesun scored his seventh goal of the game at 2:16, Don Kim (Gr., Los Angeles, CA) ripped an exclusion goal at 1:33 and Cyrus Jamnejad (Gr., Los Angeles, CA) punched in a natural goal with 1:10 to play to pull Minnesota to within 15-14, but the FIU defense stiffened to hang on for the win.

Overall, the game was a battle between Lipin and Pesum as the two combined to account for nearly half of the game's offense.

Martinez finished with a hat-trick and Andy Alvarez (Gr., Miami, FL) chipped in a pair of goals in support of Lipin, who earned Player of the Game honors for his performance, while Jamnejad dropped in four goals in assistance of Pesum.

In goal, Theo Jenetopolus (So., Miami, FL) stopped 10 Gophers' shots to earn the win, while the Minnesota goaltenders blocked down eight FIU shots.

FIU will continue the tournament on November 10 at 10:10 a.m. against host the University of Arizona in the second round. Minnesota will next be in action at 6:20 p.m. tonight versus New York University.

FIU Goals -- Alex Lipin (7); Alex Martinez (3); Andy Alvarez (2); Alex Luis; Alex Sergov; Mario Mora

Minnesota Goals -- Robert Pesum (7); Cyrus Jamnejad (4); Don Kim; Jesse Cheng; Jeff Remakel

FIU Assists --Alex Lipin (3); Alex Martinez; Alex Sergov

Minnesota Assists -- Jake Wollensack (2)

Saves: FIU - Theo Jenetopolus (10) ; Minnesota - Robert Cascic (4), Matt Dalberg (4)

Ejections: FIU - 9; Minnesota - 5

Sprints: FIU - 4 ; Minnesota - 0