Women’s Soccer Picks up Key Win to Rise in C-USA Standings

Friday, October 25

Boca Raton, Fla.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

-1231, 611 CUSA

North Texas

-1150, 620 CUSA

North Texas

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Women’s Soccer Picks up Key Win to Rise in C-USA Standings

10/25/2019 11:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women's soccer utilized a successful penalty kick from Pernille Velta, and the Owl defense and goalkeeper Cassidy Wasdin turned in a clean sheet behind the redshirt freshman's career-best seven saves. With the 1-0 win on Friday night, the Owls leapfrogged the Mean Green in the Conference USA standings to move into third place.

The Turning Point:
FAU (12-3-1, 6-1-1 C-USA) came out hot and heavy after the halftime break, and Mary O'Hara drew a foul in the box to bring up the PK opportunity. Senior striker Velta beat the NT (11-5-0, 6-2-0 C-USA) keeper right to put the Owls on the scoreboard in the 56th minute.

The Finish:
The Mean Green didn't go away, with six shots the remainder of the match. Three were saved, two by Wasdin, and one key shot that was turned away came in a sequence just after he goal – in the 66th, Luisa Daikeler was in the right spot near the goal line to clear it for a team save. Wasdin's last save came with just under two minutes left, and the Owls were able to dribble out the clock for a big league win.

Notables:

Velta made good on the Owls' first PK attempt of the year, her sixth goal in 2019 and 15th of her career
Wasdin turned in her fourth full clean sheet in the Owls' fifth shutout this season
Seven Owls in total did not come off the pitch: Wasdin, the entire backline of Daikeler, Alex Maxson, Carolynn Wotring and Hailey Landrus, and midfielders O'Hara and Jessica Monteiro
FAU had one less shot in the match than the Mean Green, 14-13, but had a 9-2 corner kick advantage
The team reached the 12-win mark for the fourth time in the last five seasons, and earned program win No. 250 all-time

Quotable

"For 'P' (Pernille Velta), a senior, to step up and be calm and cool and collected on the PK, we've been very good at just taking it game-by-game and staying in the moment," said head coach Patrick Baker. "It wasn't our best soccer, but a lot of that has to do with the pressure that North Texas puts on you … at the conclusion of 90, we managed to find one and keep a clean sheet."

"It's all really surreal for us," said senior forward Elisha Holmes. "I know this has been one of the matches that we've looked forward the most to, out of the whole year. I think the atmosphere was amazing, the crowd was amazing, and overall our team had a lot of passion."

Full Video with Coach Baker:

Full Video with Elisha Holmes:

What's Next

The Owls will host Rice on Sunday, another team just ahead of them in the C-USA standings, at 6-0-2 (for 20 points compared to FAU's 19). The match will kick off at 1 p.m. from FAU Soccer Stadium.