Florida Atlantic traveled to Tulsa (7-6-2, 3-3 AAC) in the Owls first conference match since Sept. 29. FAU could not successfully close out the road trip with points as the Owls fell 3-1 against the Golden Hurricanes.
The Golden Hurricane’s Hannah Chance was able to find the match’s first goal for Tulsa after finding the cross off the corner attempt in the 14th minute.
The back end of the first half was slower compared to the beginning of the match as Tulsa had three shots in the final 15 minutes, while FAU was held to four shot attempts in the first half with three coming in the final ten minutes.
At halftime it was Tulsa ahead 1-0. The Golden Hurricane’s Tatum Sanders had three saves while Lexi Gonzalez of FAU had one save and the one goal given up.
It was a quick start in the second half as after an aggressive FAU tackle in the penalty box, brought on a Maggie SymSmith penalty kick which was converted as the Golden Hurricanes had the 2-0 advantage in the 48th minute.
Tulsa continued to pour it on as the Golden Hurricanes found the goal in the 59th minute to extend the lead 3-0.
In the 70th minute, Florida Atlantic’s Drew Dempsey was pulled down in the penalty box. A yellow card was shown and a penalty kick was awarded to the Owls as Hailey Santiago scored her first goal of the season to bring the match within two, 3-1.
While FAU had chances in the second half, the Owls were not able to convert as Tulsa’s dominant offensive showing led to a 3-1 victory.
Tulsa had 20 shot attempts while the Owls had 11. Michelle Horan (pictured above, Angelina LaBelle) led the Owls starters in shots, while Santiago’s performance off the bench led to her having three shots with all attempts on goal making her the team leader in both categories. Both teams finished with eight shots on goal. Gonzalez gave up three goals while having three saves, and Tulsa’s Sanders had seven saves and one goal allowed. Tulsa had six corner attempts while Florida Atlantic had six.
It has been three weeks since Florida Atlantic (2-8-3, 1-3-1 AAC) have hosted a home match. Rice (11-2-1, 5-1-0 AAC) has had a great season, but on the road Rice seems to struggle. The Rice Owls are 1-2 on the road including a 2-1 loss against South Florida who FAU tied 0-0. This is an important stretch for Florida Atlantic to add to the win column, and help their AAC championship seeding. FAU will play five matches in 14 days. The match between Rice and FAU is Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 P.M. at the FAU Soccer Stadium.