FAU Women’s Soccer Claims First Victory of the Season

By: Michael Demyan

Photo Credit: FAU Athletics

After falling to the University of Florida in overtime on Friday, the Florida Atlantic University women’s soccer team sat through a weather delay before overtaking St. Francis at home by a score of 3-1 Sunday afternoon.

Just under two minutes into the game, a corner kick by the Owls’ Asta Arnadottir set up a goal attempt by Ebba Blomqvist that missed high. St. Francis followed up with two shots of their own, with the second stopped by FAU goalie Jennifer Ocampo.

The game stayed scoreless until the 11th minute when Blomqvist scored on a penalty kick to give the Owls a 1-0 lead. It was both the junior’s first goal of the season and the first for the team as a whole after being shut out Friday night.

Head coach Patrick Baker was proud of the team for getting off to a fast start after waiting patiently for the game to finally begin.

“It’s always tough when you get warmed up and then you got to warm up again, so I thought we started the game sharply,” he said.

Less than six minutes later, the Owls looked to build on their lead with four consecutive goal attempts in a five minute span. They were finally able to make it work with their fifth straight shot attempt just over halfway through the first period. Tiril Haga found the back of the net unassisted to extend their lead to two.

FAU continued with their consistent offensive possession of the ball throughout the rest of the first period with two more unanswered goal attempts, but halftime came with the score still at 2-0.

After three more shots from the Owls to begin the second period, St. Francis’ Siobhan Bross answered with a shot on goal just past an hour into the game, but it was saved by Ocampo.

With under eight minutes remaining, FAU was still not done padding their lead and made it 3-0 with sophomore Pernille Velta’s first goal. It was the team’s second unassisted goal of the afternoon.

Looking to get on the board in the final minutes, Bross attempted a goal that was saved by Ocampo and just seven seconds later, she saved another shot by Camryn Tirado. Finally, St. Francis’ Gabi Morales found an opening and snuck one by for a goal 50 seconds later, preventing the shutout.

FAU (1-1) was easily able to keep the game in control for the remaining minutes as they went on to take the 3-1 victory in front of over 200 fans. St. Francis’ record fell to 0-2 on the season.

“I thought we responded well from Friday, but Friday took a lot out of us and now we just got to recover and regroup and watch a lot of video from today that’s going to make us better for next week when we host our tournament,” Baker said.

Their next games will come during the FAU Adidas Owl Classic which begins on Friday. Participants include Florida Gulf Coast, Eastern Michigan and Valparaiso. The Owls will be playing Eastern Michigan on Friday night and Valparaiso on Sunday.