In a cloudy downtown Birmingham, Alabama, the Blazers and the Owls met in a match that could set the tone for the final month of the season. Even with a staunch attack by FAU, the Blazers found a way to get past the Owls 1-0.
UAB and FAU both had four points entering the day in conference play. If there were to be a winner, that team could start to separate themselves from the pack.
In the 25th minute, Florida Atlantic had a goal taken away due to the offsides flag going up. One could argue that Emmy Schleifer was onsides, but the match’s first goal still had to wait.
The first half was a battle of attrition, as both teams had five shots. The goalkeepers earned their keep as AAC Keeper of the Week Anika Toth had two saves and Ashley Small added three saves to her total this season.
Coming out of halftime the Owls had three shots that could not find the net, but the Blazers counterattack led to a Mia Leath header to take the 1-0 advantage for UAB.
Florida Atlantic’s shots total piled up, but there was no way past the hands of UAB’s Toth.
For the rest of the match UAB parked the bus and held on to beat FAU 1-0.
The stat sheet would say otherwise, but the Blazers won the match. The Owls had 15 shots with six being on goal. Sloane Young led the team in shots on goal. All six shots on goal were saved by Toth. The shot differential was seven with UAB only having eight. Ashley Small had three saves, but gave up the only goal of the match. FAU also had ten corner attempts compared to the Blazers one.
Florida Atlantic (2-6-3) (1-2-1) has the next eleven days off to prepare for the final six regular season games. FAU comes back to Paradise to welcome Rice (9-2-1) (3-1-0) for FAU’s fourth AAC match. Rice has been a dominant team with their only losses coming to reigning national champion Florida State and (RV) South Florida. FAU played USF earlier this season and was able to come away with a 0-0 draw. For Florida Atlantic and Rice, every point counts. The match is Thursday, Oct. 10, at 7 P.M.