Women’s Soccer Rebounds with Clean Sheet Win over Rice

Sunday, October 21

Houston, Texas

2 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

10-7-1, 7-1-1

Rice

6-8-1, 4-4-1

Florida Atlantic

Rice

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

10/21/2018 4:35:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

HOUSTON – The Florida Atlantic University women's soccer team salvaged a split on their Texas road trip, getting past Rice on Sunday afternoon by the score of 1-0, in the team's next-to-last matchup of the regular season.

The Turning Point:
FAU (10-7-1, 7-1-1 Conference USA) notched the only goal of the match in the waning seconds of the first half. The visiting Owls earned a corner, taken by Sammy Vitols, and possession was loose in the box until Tiril Haga deposited it past the Rice (6-8-1, 4-4-1 C-USA) keeper with just 30 ticks left on the clock.

The Finish:
Rice did have the shot advantage after the break, 7-3, but the FAU defense was up to the task, including three saves by Jennifer Ocampo. A possible Rice equalizer with under five minutes left was turned away by an offsides call, and the visitors held on for the win and three more key points in the C-USA standings.

Notables:

Nine FAU players spread out the team's 12 shot attempts, with only Elisha Holmes, Pernille Velta and Mary O'Hara with multiple opportunities (two apiece)
Haga moved back into the team lead with five goals
The shutout is the team's seventh of the year, all coming in conference play, and FAU is 6-0-1 in those results
The team reached double digits in wins for the fourth straight year, and for the first time in that length of a span since 2003-2006
The seven C-USA wins is the most since joining the league in 2013, and the most in any league since going 7-4-0 in 2006 as first-year members of the Sun Belt

Quotable:
"It wasn't pretty today, Rice is very talented (and) well-coached," said Head Coach Patrick Baker. "We found the back of the net … and this has kind of been our m.o. We just find a way to get one, and we keep a clean sheet and just kind of move on. A different hero, today it was 'T' (Tiril Haga). Sundays are always difficult, especially when you're on the road. This is a very difficult swing, if you can get three points out of six with having played Rice and North Texas, you'll probably take it."

Full Video with Coach Baker:

What's Next:
All that remains for FAU in this regular season is a border battle with FIU next Friday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. The next week begins the 2018 Conference USA Championship, on Wednesday, Oct. 31, in Norfolk, Virginia.