Women’s Soccer Lifts Lid on C-USA Play with Convincing Victory

Thursday, September 19

Boca Raton, Fla.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

-620, 100 CUSA

Marshall

-260, 010 CUSA

Marshall

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Women’s Soccer Lifts Lid on C-USA Play with Convincing Victory

9/19/2019 10:06:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Three first-half goals in the span of exactly eight minutes of match time helped propel Florida Atlantic University women's soccer to a win in the team's 2019 Conference USA opener, an eventual 4-0 decision over visiting Marshall.

The Turning Point:
The Owls (6-2-0, 1-0-0 C-USA) came out with a flurry, taking six shots in the first 20 minutes, but were yet unable to convert. It would be midfielder Gi Krstec that dealt the initial blow, capitalizing on a pass from Miracle Porter to open the scoring. Just 2:10 after that, it was Mary O'Hara's turn, off a feed from Pernile Velta, and 5:50 later, Porter herself found the back of the net to make for the 3-0 edge.

The Finish:
The capper came early in the second period, with Velta's second assist came on a connection to Sammy Vitols near the left post. As the offense created the 4-0 lead, the defense more than made it hold up, with just only one Marshall (2-6-0, 0-1-0 C-USA) shot coming after FAU's first score. Cassidy Wasdin and Brianna Waggoner combined for the clean sheet in goal.

Notables:

Missing the majority of last year due to injury, Krstec's second FAU goal came more than a year after her first (Aug. 23, 2018)
O'Hara continues to add on to her career-high total of goals in a season, leading the Owls with six in eight matches this year
Porter and Vitols each have four, and the duo ties for second on the squad
Assist-wise, Porter now has two this year and four in her career; Velta followed up her first of the season last match with two more tonight for three, and 14 in her fourth year
A total of 23 Owls saw the pitch on Thursday
With the win, FAU runs its all-time record to 244-243-35. It marks the first time the program has moved above .500 since Oct. 7, 2011, nearly eight years and 156 matches ago (at the time, 173-172-21)

Quotable

"I thought we were exceptional at times (tonight), really exceptional," said head coach Patrick Baker. "There's three or four sequences that (it was) just a shame the ball didn't end up in the back of the net, just with the sequences and the spacing and the timing of the runs and the quality of the pass … Even though we've had a couple of nailbiters up to this point, it was nice to get a little bit of a cushion, it was nice to get those three goals inside of about 10 minutes there in the first half."

Full Video with Coach Baker:

What's Next

The Owls are back at home again Sunday, taking on out-of-conference foe Creighton at a later start time than normal, 6 p.m. As is every home match for the remainder of the season, admission is free to FAU Soccer Stadium.