BOCA RATON, Fla. – On Wednesday night, the Florida Atlantic University women’s soccer team took a 2-0 win against FIU in the final regular season match of 2022. FAU improved to 9-7-3 and solidified its standing as the five seed in the Conference USA Championship Tournament, which will be held in Charlotte next week.
The match went into halftime scoreless, yet two quick goals from the Owls put a safe distance between the two squads. Bri Austin recorded her seventh goal of the season to put FAU in front in the 61st minute. Hailey Landrus sent a ball up to Gi Krstec, who made a run all the way up the left side. Krstec sent a precision cross that was ran down by Austin on the back post, and she punched it in to get FAU on the board.
Not even three minutes later, the Owls struck again off a corner kick for the second game in a row. Landrus sent a corner that found Amanda Martin, who headed it in to double up FAU’s lead. The 2-0 lead proved to be more enough for FAU’s defense, who pitched its ninth shutout of the season.
QUOTES FROM THE OWLS
“It was a great team effort tonight,” Krstec said. “We had two beautiful goals, and we needed a win to keep our momentum going on heading into the conference tournament. I think we are going to do really well.”
“I was very excited to score tonight, but I definitely owe it to the team,” Martin said. “I have been going up for corners a lot, and it felt good to punch one in. I am looking forward to going to the conference tournament with this group, we are very excited.”
“We faced a tough opponent tonight. FIU is better than their record shows this year,” head coach Patrick Baker said. “We did have some good looks in the first half. At halftime, we then talked about how we might be able to do some things. Gi served a great ball to the back post that Bri tucked home, then a couple of minutes later had a great service from Hailey that Amanda punched in for her first of the year. It was great for our seniors to win in their last game on our home field in front of their family and friends. It was special to get the shutout and have two seniors score. On top of that, it is nice to know that we have secured the five seed, and now we’ll wait to see who we play in the four-five game.”
NOTABLE
- Austin’s seventh goal of the season ties her career-high, which she set her sophomore year in Villanova
- Austin now stands at 19 points to lead the team, while Krstec sits in second place with 13
- Martin records her first goal of the season and her first score since the spring 2021 campaign
- Landrus’ two assists give her seven on the season which leads the team
- With an appearance in tonight’s game, Thelma Hermannsdottir moves into second place in FAU history in games played. Hermannsdottir has played in 85 games for FAU over the course of the last four years
- Landrus, who is now FAU’s all-time minutes played leader, moves into a tie for third in games played with 84 on her career
NEXT UP
The Owls will compete in their eighth consecutive Conference USA Championship Tournament next week. The tourney will take place at Charlotte, with the quarterfinals to be held on Nov. 2. The brackets will be released on conferenceusa.com this weekend.
FOLLOW FAU ON SOCIAL MEDIA
To stay up to date on all things FAU women’s soccer, follow the Owls on social media @FAUWSoccer.
