The FAU women’s soccer team (1-3-1) found themselves scoreless at FAU Soccer Stadium as Murray State (3-1-0) dominated defensively all Friday night and ultimately clinched a win in overtime, defeating the Owls 1-0. 

The Owls were off to a quick start as senior midfielder Sammy Vitols attempted a header shot but it was hastily saved by the Racers’ junior goalkeeper Jenna Villacres.  

As the first half continued, both teams had a difficult time trying to score as all of their shot attempts proved to be unsuccessful. 

Before time ran out in the first half, the Racers’ sophomore midfielder Hailey Cole’s shot on goal in the 38th minute nearly went in. However, freshman goalkeeper Amit Cohen interfered to save it.

Heading into the second half, the Owls tried to get their momentum going as they had four consecutive shot attempts. Two were by graduate forward Bri Austin. Nonetheless, all shots were blocked and saved by Villacres. 

In the 82nd minute, Vitols had a good look for a shot but it came off too strong and struck the crossbar. 

FAU had double the amount of shot attempts in the second half than MSU did but still could not carry out a goal. Both of their defensive efforts in prohibiting each other from scoring was effective as the second half came to an end. 

What seemed to be a tough 0-0 game, turned into a victory for the Racers as they managed to tighten up in overtime. 

After the referee pulled a yellow card on Vitols, junior midfielder Lauren Payne was awarded a free kick for the Racers. Once the ball came into play, it bounced off the post but with an assist from freshman defender Morgan Bodker, Payne cruised the ball into the goal for the game winner. 

The Owls performed woefully to lose 1-0. They will seek to redeem themselves on Sunday as they travel to Jacksonville, Fla. to face the Troy University Trojans for the first time since 2012, at 1 p.m. 

Gabriella Brito is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet her @gaby1brito