Championship Flashback: Owls Secure C-USA Title with Senior Night Win

BOCA RATON, Fla. – One year and one day ago, at the final horn and on their home pitch, the Florida Atlantic University women's soccer team capped off a historic 2019 regular season by winning the Conference USA Championship outright with a Senior Night victory against FIU.

On Friday, Nov. 1, 2019, a 2-1 FAU win over their border rivals pushed the Owls to 8-1-1 in C-USA play and completed a 5-0-0 league mark at home, clinching both the regular season title and No. 1 seed for the upcoming C-USA Championship. This is the final look back in a series of eight features commemorating the Owls' path to the 2019 C-USA championship. For the original recap of this match, click HERE.

Championship Flashbacks (Click to View Previous Links)
1. FAU 4, Marshall 0 – 9/19/19
2. FAU 2, UAB 1 – 9/29/19
3. FAU 3, Southern Miss 1 – 10/6/19
4. FAU 2, UTSA 1 – 10/11/19
5. FAU 3, Middle Tennessee 1 – 10/20/19
6. FAU 1, North Texas 0 – 10/25/19
7. FAU 3, Rice 2 – 10/27/19
8. Today – FAU vs. FIU – 11/1/19

FAU 2, FIU 1 – 11/2/19

On Senior Night, when the FAU faithful celebrated 10 Owls' final home match in front of a packed house at FAU Soccer Stadium, two goals sandwiched around the halftime break (both coming courtesy of one of those 10 seniors) led the team to victory.

Owls' Record: 8-1-1 in C-USA, 14-3-1 overall

FAU Scoring
36:16 O'HARA, Mary (DAVENPORT, Madison)
50:54 MONTEIRO, Jessica (VITOLS, Sammy)

Coach Baker Then (Full video)
"Just proud of our girls. Proud to be champions of Conference USA, proud to be the No. 1 seed, and excited for what the tournament might hold regardless of who we play. It's a brand new season, everybody's got the same opportunities … (but) we're excited to get the No. 1 seed."

Coach Baker Reflects Back Now
"Different than the previous year where we had finished our season and we sat around watching North Texas and Old Dominion, hoping that Old Dominion would do something and they did (the Monarchs' win meant that FAU and UNT tied for the regular season title). You're sitting around, everybody's in different places, but here, you know you're only 90 minutes away and can control your own destiny.

"It was Senior Night, I just remember it was our first time being in that environment. We took (FIU's) best shot in the first half, bent but didn't break, and then with every passing minute, you're getting closer and you're trying to hold on as best you can. But when the final whistle goes, and it's Senior Night, and you win for your seniors, and you can present your captains with the trophy … just to see everyone's smiles on their faces, it just couldn't have happened to a better collection of young ladies."

Key Moment or Stretch / Key Player – The Senior Class
"We definitely had a lot of the ball and were in and around the 18, but I don't know if we created as many clear-cut chances as we'd hoped to. When Mary (O'Hara) scored, it was much more of a relief going into halftime, and then Jesse (Jessica Monteiro) scores an unbelievable goal, a volley off a corner kick to put us up 2-0. That's when I thought, we're gonna do this. (The key players) were absolutely our seniors. Two seniors scored, and a lot of them played well that night. It was great for our seniors to be able to go out that way."

Standings – CHAMPIONS

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