Weekend Sweep Propels Women’s Soccer to Top Spot in C-USA

Sunday, October 27

Boca Raton, Fla.

1:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

-1331, 711 CUSA

Rice

-952, 612 CUSA

Rice

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

10/27/2019 4:06:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women's soccer held off Rice for a 3-2 Sunday afternoon victory at FAU Soccer Stadium, making Pernille Velta's two first-half goals stand up. The Owls (13-3-1, 7-1-1 C-USA) not only moved ahead of Rice in the Conference USA ledger, but because Charlotte lost to UTSA, leapt over the 49ers as well to sit in first place all alone with one match to go.

The Turning Point:
FAU needed just 3:04 to take the early lead, with Velta showing off her moves in the box to beat the Rice (9-5-2, 6-1-2 USA) keeper left. She then doubled the advantage in the 19th minute on a penalty kick, her second successful PK of the weekend.

The Finish:
Rice scored first in the second half, but FAU went back out ahead 3-1 when Velta and Sammy Vitols flipped responsibilities (on the very first goal, Vitols got the assist; this time, Velta earned the helper). Though Rice made good on a PK of their own with under five minutes left, the homestanding Owls held off the visiting Owls for the remaining 4:13 of the match for the three points.

Notables:

Velta's goals were her seventh and eighth of the season, and she posted her fourth assist, continuing to share the team high with Vitols
In addition to her fourth assist, Vitols now has six scores
After seven saves Friday, Cassidy Wasdin recorded five more Sunday in picking up her 12th win of the year
On a hot Sunday afternoon, just Wasdin, Luisa Daikeler, Alex Maxson and Jessica Monteiro played the entire match; the home Owls went 19 players deep on the day
The 13th victory of the season is the most in the Coach Baker era. The 2005 team was the last to surpass that total, with 16

Quotable

"We had a great start … off to a 2-0 start (early)," said head coach Patrick Baker. "We found the goal to go up 3-1, 'P' (Pernille Velta) has two goals and an assist, which is remarkable, happy for her … Just couldn't be happier. To pick up two pretty significant wins, not only in conference but in the region, and now you're talking about a real special season, you go to 13-3-1 and you've got one game left. Just proud of how we gutted it out."

"Today was huge," said senior midfielder Mary O'Hara. "We were really excited about Friday, and then kind of just turned it off yesterday and got back to (being) focused. Everybody's full attention was on today because we knew it was going to be a really tough game against a really tough team."

Full Video with Coach Baker:

Full Video with Mary O'Hara:

What's Next

The Owls are in the driver's seat for potentially C-USA's No. 1 seed, at 22 points with a match to go (Charlotte and North Texas each have 21 points; Rice has 20). The final match on FAU's schedule is this upcoming Friday, Senior Night, against FIU (2-14-0, 0-9-0 C-USA). Kickoff is at 7 p.m., and the Class of 2019 – 10 members of the squad – will be celebrated beforehand.