Women’s Soccer, No. 14 in RPI, Hits Road for Split Weekend

Florida Atlantic Women's Soccer at Oral Roberts & UAB
Matchup Details	at Oral Roberts Tulsa, Okla. \| Case Soccer Complex Thursday, Sept. 26 \| 8 p.m. Eastern at UAB Birmingham, Ala. \| BBVA Field Sunday, Sept. 29 \| 2 p.m. Eastern
Game Coverage	Thursday: Streaming/Live Stats Sunday: Streaming \| Live Stats Twitter: @FAUWomensSoccer
Florida Atlantic Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Road to the 2018 C-USA Championship
Oral Roberts Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule
UAB Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University women's soccer, now up to 7-2-0 on the year after five straight wins, has been slotted No. 14 in the first RPI ratings of the season released by the NCAA. The Owls will take those markers into the start of back-to-back road weekends, finishing off the non-conference slate Thursday at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then the first of nine Conference USA matches in a row, Sunday at UAB.

More About the First RPI Ratings
RPI, which takes into account many things, including strength of schedule and opposing win percentage, has rewarded the Owls for their early season schedule and wins against tough competition.

FAU is second among all Florida schools, with Florida State No. 1. The Owls rate ahead of USF (No. 16) and Florida (No. 17), as well as Florida Gulf Coast (No. 79), UCF (No. 96), North Florida (No. 109), Miami (No. 143) and FIU (No. 272).

Owl opponents thus far, in addition to previously mentioned Florida and UNF, include No. 9 Kansas, No. 36 Creighton, No. 40 Dartmouth and No. 72 Ball State. FAU is the highest-rated C-USA team, with Old Dominion next at No. 77, while No. 81 Rice is the only other league school within the top 100.

Additionally, FAU has been voted No. 5 in the latest United Soccer Coaches South Region poll, tops among C-USA schools named (North Texas is sixth, Old Dominion seventh, WKU eighth and Rice ninth). Memphis sits atop those rankings, followed by SMU, USF and UCF.

Owls' Week in Review
The Owls (7-2-0, 1-0-0 C-USA) started the conference slate off with a bang, matching their largest margin of victory since joining C-USA with a 4-0 win over Marshall. Three of those scores came in the first half in exactly eight minutes time – by Gi Krstec, Mary O'Hara and Miracle Porter – and Sammy Vitols closed out the scoring just after the break.

FAU capped off a 5-0 homestand by outlasting Creighton this past Sunday on a Jessica Monteiro goal in the 82nd minute. All told in the two wins, the stonewalling Owl defense allowed just six total shots, in posting their third and fourth clean sheet in the last five. Cassidy Wasdin earned her second C-USA Goalkeeper of the Week award in three weeks on Monday.

Owls' Weekend in Preview
The Owls will have four in a row in the road, starting Thursday in Tulsa against Oral Roberts (3-6-1), to finish off a home-and-home series against the Golden Eagles. ORU split last weekend, with an 8-1 win over Chicago State and 2-0 loss to Kansas City as part of the Tulsa Invitational. Drishana Pillay leads the team with five goals this season, while Martha Helsee chips in with four. The Golden Eagles were 8-12 a year ago, 3-5 in the Summit League, finishing seventh. Coaches slotted them there in the preseason as well.

FAU's first C-USA road match of the year comes Sunday against UAB (2-2-3, 0-0-0 C-USA) in Birmingham. The Blazers, 2-0-2 in their last four matches, were scheduled to start league play last Sunday, but their match at Louisiana Tech was postponed. Megan Hudgens has three of the team's eight goals this year, including the game-winner last time out, at Georgia Southern. A year ago, the team was 9-8-1 overall and 6-4-0 in C-USA, earning the No. 3 seed in the postseason tournament. That was after being forecasted No. 9 in last year's preseason poll. This year, the coaches slotted them No. 4.

Opponent History
Last year was FAU's first ever meeting against Oral Roberts, and it was a 3-0 home win in Boca Raton. O'Hara put the Owls on the board just over three minutes in, Monteiro added the second goal, and Pernille Velta the third.

FAU holds a 6-0-2 all-time advantage over UAB, winning the last two, in the 2017 C-USA Tournament and in last year's regular season. Both were 1-0 decisions. Last season in Boca, Elisha Holmes rocketed in the game-winner, and the Owls finished off the shutout, the second in what would eventually be four in a row.

Fast Facts

Women's Soccer on Social Media
Follow the Owls on Twitter and Instagram, both @FAUWomensSoccer, and like the team on Facebook here.

After This
The road trip comes to an end with two more league matches in a week's time. The Owls head to Ruston, Louisiana, to face Louisiana Tech on Friday, Oct. 4; two days later, they'll take on Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.

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