Women’s Soccer: FAU defeats Niagara for second win of the year
Pernille Velta recorded two assists in the 3-2 victory.
Owls head coach Patrick Baker gives a post game talk to his team who were huddled around him after their 3-1 victory over the Hurricanes Friday night. Photo by Max Jackson|Staff Photographer
September 3, 2018
Florida Atlantic Women’s Soccer picked up its second home victory of the season in a 3-2 win against Niagara University.
The Owls started slow but caught fire midway through the game, scoring three goals and keeping the Niagara offense at bay to close the win.
The Owls started slow after lightning delayed the game’s start by 30 minutes, letting Niagara control possession for most of the first half. Niagara struck early, scoring in the seventh-minute on a goal from Hailey Bicknell.
FAU had a couple shots miss just wide mid-way through the first half, its offense beginning to show signs of life for the first time of the night.
That momentum carried into the 35th minute, when FAU netted a goal from midfielder Jessica Monteiro. The Owls kept attacking, taking another three shots on goal, but Niagara successfully blocked all three.
FAU offense dominated possession from the start of the second half. Tiril Haga took the ball down the middle of the pitch and just missed on a scoring attempt in the 52nd minute. FAU kept strong offensively, keeping the ball on Niagara’s side of the field.
In response to a dominant FAU Offense, Niagara would answer back with a goal of its own in the 62nd minute. After being up one, the Owls would continue to show off their offensive strength.
FAU responded, scoring its third goal of the game in the 79th minute — a shot by Haga off a pass from Velta. Niagara kept its comeback efforts alive late in the game, scoring in the 82nd minute to make the game to be down just one.
The Purple Eagles failed to find the net again, the Owls holding their 3-2 score to the end of regulation.
“We got off to a slow start, we gave up an early goal. It put us in a similar position like we were on friday,” FAU coach Patrick Baker said. “We responded well going into the half, especially when it was crucial. We seemed to have gotten our gas back — until we let up on the pedal and allowed in the second goal. Overall it was a good win and we look forward to taking that momentum forward.”
The Women’s Soccer team will be back in action Friday Sept. 7, at 8 p.m. when they travel to take on Arkansas.
Jill Bijolle is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet her @jillbijolle
