Women’s soccer: Owls split pair of weekend games
Freshman Libby Wissman scored her first collegiate goal in Friday’s win.
September 4, 2016
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or the third straight weekend, the Florida Atlantic women’s soccer team picked up a win on Friday before falling short of a second victory on Sunday.
Friday started with redshirt senior Sydney Drinkwater’s first shutout of the season against Stetson University. She collected a program-record 10 clean sheets a season ago.
On Sunday, the Owls traveled down I-95 to face the University of Miami Hurricanes, a team FAU has defeated each of the previous two years. But like last week, the Atlantic Coast Conference team came out victorious.
“Playing these big teams on Sundays in the heat — we played 2 ACC teams and a [Southeastern Conference] team — that’s just a huge challenge for us,” said redshirt senior Erica Burt. “That’s where we want to be in the future. We want to be in the top 10, in the top 20 in the country like they are.”
Here is a recap of each game:
Game One: Stetson 0, FAU 1
The two teams were evenly matched during the first half of Friday’s game, as each team finished the first 45 minutes with four shots.
Stetson recorded four more shots in the second half, but the Owls managed to test the Hatters goalie eight more times than Drinkwater. One of those 12 second-half shots, taken by freshman Libby Wissman, found the back of the net in the 65th minute.
“We put [Wissman] wide because we thought she could run at people and she’s got a nose for goal and it just happened to pan out for us,” head coach Patrick Baker said.
The ball found Wissman’s right foot after fellow freshman Elisha Holmes’ shot deflected off Stetson junior goalkeeper Kahri Smith.
Of the Hatter eight shots in the game, only three tested Drinkwater.
“That’s the number one thing as a defender, we want to post shutouts, keep the ball out of the back of our net as much as possible,” Burt said.
Game Two: FAU 0, Miami 1
Drinkwater received an increased workload in the second game of the weekend, having to fend off six shots on goal to have her team enter halftime scoreless. Eventually though, Miami’s Gracie Lachowecki was able to find enough room to squeeze a goal by the preseason all-conference team member.
After the goal, FAU attempted three shots, but only put one on target.
Two days after her first collegiate goal, Wissman led the Owls with three shot attempts.
Burt and freshman defender Alex Maxson were the only two FAU players, besides Drinkwater, to play the full 90 minutes.
The Owls will have three days off before hosting Oakland University on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @feeney42.