BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Sept. 22, 2019) – A Jessica Monteiro header off a corner in the 82nd minute was the difference maker in sending Florida Atlantic University women’s soccer to their fifth straight victory – and a 5-0 homestand – topping visiting Creighton Sunday night, 1-0.
The Turning Point:
A back-and-forth affair saw neither team get the all-important first goal until FAU’s (7-2-0) 11th corner kick of the night (and what would be their 12th shot attempt). Freshman centerback Luisa Daikeler played a beautiful ball in, and Monteiro got a clean look to head it in, off a Creighton (6-3-0) defender, and across the goal line.
The Finish:
Creighton played the last 7:02 aggressively, but the FAU defense held, not allowing even an attempt at an equalizer. In fact, the Bluejays only got two shots off in the match, both on goal, and both saved by Owls’ keeper Cassidy Wasdin.
Notables:
· Monteiro’s third goal of her career is her first FAU game-winner
· Daikeler notched her first collegiate assist
· The duo were two of six to play the full 90, along with Wasdin, and Daikeler’s fellow backline defenders, Hailey Landrus, Alex Maxson and Carolynn Wotring
· The Owls held a shot advantage of 13-2, and corner edge of 11-4
· That’s now three straight clean sheets for FAU, and four on the season. The homestand finished 9-1, goal-wise, in the Owls’ favor
Quotable:
“I just couldn’t be happier for Jessica Monteiro,” said head coach Patrick Baker. “There’s a lot of players on our team that get a lot of attention, but … she would be, if not one of the, the first pick on our team would be Jessi Montero. She’s a 90-minute player, she’s an honest player, she plays both sides of the ball, she’s the glue of the team, a captain and a leader. They don’t make them like her. It was great that she was able to impact the game in a statistical standpoint, because a lot of the stuff that she does just doesn’t (show) in the boxscore at the end of the game.”
“It was a great ball by Lu (Luisa Daikler),” said Monteiro of the game-winner. “We were kind of running against the time, but it was a great ball and a lucky header, and it went in. (It felt) really good for the school, for my senior year … but it was also great to have my team cheering for me.”
Full Video with Coach Baker:
Full Video with Monteiro:
What’s Next:
The Owls have a split road weekend ahead, both for travel and as in one non-conference and one Conference USA affair. Thursday night, the team will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to play Oral Roberts; Sunday afternoon, it’s a league matchup in Birmingham, Alabama, against UAB.
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
