On Thursday, the 7-seed Florida Atlantic Owls women’s soccer team (8-7-5, 3-3-3 AAC) lost to the 3-seed Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs (11-5-1, 5-3-1 AAC) 3-0, eliminating the Owls from the AAC Women’s Soccer Tournament.

“Not an ideal start. I felt for the girls. I’m proud of how we’ve competed: we changed our shape, [we] really started to get back in the game a little bit,” said head coach Patrick Baker after the game.

SMU graduate midfielder Wayny Balata scored the first goal of the game minutes into the first half.

The game went back and forth between the two teams throughout the first half.

After a foul by FAU sophomore defender Daniella Diaz, Balata scored her second goal of the half.

At halftime, the Mustangs led the Owls seven goals to three. FAU senior goalie Lexi Gonzalez made two saves in the first half.

“I thought we were in a good place. Unfortunately, the early corner kick and the unfortunate handball, and you’re just down 2-0 in the first ten minutes before you can really get out of the gates. You’re really up against it,” said Baker.

Multiple fouls were called in the second half, on both FAU and SMU. Late in the second half, an assist from SMU senior midfielder Leah Chancey to sophomore forward Eliana Salama extended the Mustangs’ lead to 3-0.

The Mustangs finished the game with 13 shots and six shots on goal, while the Owls had seven  and three shots on goal. Gonzalez and SMU graduate goalie Samantha Estrada both finished with three saves.

The Owls finished their first season in the American Athletic Conference fourth in the East Division and advanced to the semifinals.

Maddox Greenberg is the Sports Editor for the University Press. Email [email protected] or DM via Twitter @MaddoxGreenberg and Instagram @maddoxblade04 for information regarding this or other stories