DURHAM, North Carolina (November 19, 2017) -- FIU's historic and outstanding season came to an end Sunday night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

No. 6 seed Duke got past the Panthers 2-1 in the second round of the NCAA Soccer Tournament to advance to a third round matchup with Fordham.

The Blue Devils (13-4-2) built a 2-0 lead on the Panthers with goals from Max Moser and Kristofer Gardarsson, who each scored their first career goals. Moser opened the scoring on a free kick from 30 yards out. In the 73^rd minute, Gardarsson scored off an assist from Suniel Veerakone.

FIU (12-2-4) scored four minutes later.

In the 77^th minute senior Paul Marie, who had two assists in FIU's first round NCAA win over Omaha last Thursday, beat Duke goalie Will Pulisic one-on-one. Owen Green provided the assist. It was the eighth goal of the season for Marie.

"It's never easy to end a season," said FIU coach Kevin Nylen. "But I told the guys they need to hold their heads up because they had a really good year. I feel for every single one of them, but particularly for the seniors who ended their careers tonight. They've given so much to this program and to this team this year. It had to end at some point. It's unfortunate that it ended tonight, but we will be back and we will be back stronger."

The Panthers concluded a season in which they won the Conference USA regular season title for the first time in program history. FIU also hosted an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2004. The Panthers also were one of the last two undefeated teams in the nation along with Indiana until losing their first game of the season to Charlotte in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament.

"Today is a sad day," Marie said. "But I am happy with what we have done. We've built a program. I think the foundation is here and in the next few years FIU will be on the map as one of the best teams."