How the Owls finished in the 2021 season: 6-7-5 (4-2-2 C-USA), placing fifth place in the Conference USA standings with 14 points, and lost 2-1 in the Quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament to the University of Southern Mississippi.

Patience with incoming players:

The team goes into the 2022 season with a relatively young squad, half of them being either freshmen or sophomores. It will take some for them to adjust to the culture and ideology that head coach Patrick Baker has.

Graduate Bri Austin had been called up for the Trinidad and Tobago national team earlier this year. She has the capability to lead this FAU side to glory with her international experience and knowledge of the game. She will be heavily depended on for her leadership qualities. 

Establish dominance at home:

The Owls only won four conference games out of eight last season, with two of them being at home.

It is crucial that they establish some sort of presence at home and not be viewed as an easy three points. 

Find their designated striker:

FAU have scored very little in recent seasons, with the goals being shared across the squad equally. 

Although this is a slightly positive note, the Owls have struggled in having a designated striker who the team can rely on to score many goals, especially during critical moments in a game or season.

This is a critical time for Austin to rise up and make herself the superstar player she needs to be for FAU.

She made 18 appearances and 12 starts in her first season with the Owls. She showed great consistency by putting the ball in the back of the net four times and created three chances for her teammates. 

This placed Austin as the team leader in assists and second position for goals last year, as she will be an important factor on how the FAU offense performs this season. 

Matthew Aguilar-Lizzi is a staff writer at the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected], or tweet him @mattaguilarUP.