Women's Soccer Upended by Southern Miss, 2-1

Thursday, October 6

Hattiesburg, Miss.

5:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

7-6-1

Southern Miss

6-4-1

Team	1	2	Final F
FAU	1	0	1
Southern Miss	1	1	2

10/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Oct. 6, 2016

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Florida Atlantic University women's soccer team was turned away on the road on Thursday night by Southern Mississippi, 2-1.

Turning Point:

Southern Miss (6-4-1, 1-3-1 Conference USA) came up with the game-winning goal in the 57th minute. Stephanie Garcia found some spacing, took a shot that ricocheted off of FAU keeper Sydney Drinkwater on a nice sprawling save, but then Garcia made good on the rebound to give the home team a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

The Finish:

The Owls (7-6-1, 3-2-0) were not without their opportunities on the doorstep. Sammy Rowland and Elisha Holmes were each oh-so-close to equalizing. The former's header off of a superb entry pass from Asta Arnadottir bent around the post in the 70th; the latter's attempt in the 74th made it up and over the Golden Eagles' goalkeeper, but another defender snuck in behind her to save it from going over the goal line. Then, with just 2:55 left, Pernille Velta fired a bullet from the right side, but it went off of the goalkeeper for a game-saving save.

Notables:

The Golden Eagles had taken the first lead early, when in the ninth minute, an inadvertent handball in the box by the Owls led to a successful penalty kick by Rikke Randrup
However, just 1:09 later, FAU knotted it up. Freshman Mary O'Hara corralled a loose ball just inside the far post after a corner and was able beat the diving Southern Miss keeper to make it 1-1
After taking only two shots to that point, in the 38th minute, the Owls had three shots (by Erica Burt, Elisha Holmes and Alex Mastrobuono) in the span of just 37 seconds. Each were close, but all were kept out of the net
The Owls' aggression led them to a 9-5 second half shot advantage, pushing it to 14-11 total in favor of them for the game. Eight of their 14 were on goal
Burt, Holmes and Velta each paced the squad with three shots each; all three of Velta's were on target
The Owls had all 14 of the corner kicks in the match
FAU dipped into their depth for a sunny and sticky afternoon match, with eight subs in addition to the Starting XI logging at least 20 minutes on the pitch

Quotable:

"We can make a lot of different excuses, but we're not," said Head Coach Patrick Baker. "We gave up a sloppy PK early, (but) managed to equalize shortly thereafter, so the game kind of came back into fold. Went into halftime and we just weren't sharp enough, we weren't focused enough, and really to be fair, they just wanted it more."

What's Next:

The Owls are due to host Charlotte this Sunday at 1, dependent on the weather situation in South Florida. To purchase tickets for that match and/or the other remaining three home contests, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/fau/EN/buy/browse?i%5B0%5D=242.