After two straight cancelled matches the Owls went to the foothills of the Smokies in hopes of finding their first win of the season. Florida Atlantic kept up, but it was not enough as the Lady Vols pulled away to keep the win column waiting for FAU. To start there was no time to waste as Tennessee’s Malaria Midgley scored in the second minute of the match. After a couple of corner attempts for the Owls, Noa Olivia Ganthier had the first shot of the day for Florida Atlantic, but her shot was out left. The Owl’s attack kept up though as they had two more shots, one missed, and one saved. The first half closed out with both teams trading attacks to go into the break at 1-0. At the half both teams were even in shots (3) and shots on goal (1). Both offenses were active, but it was a bend don’t break mentality for the defenses. After halftime, the Lady Vols tried to replicate their start with a shot in the 46th minute, but FAU’s Ashley Small made a great save to keep the match at 1-0. The barrage of shots kept coming from Tennessee as within the first ten minutes they had six shots with Small once again making a save to slow down the attack. Florida Atlantic’s first attack of the second had to wait until the 55th minute, but the Owls were keeping up with the Vols. It was now time to look for the equalizer as Jodi Smith (pictured) took a shot, but she was not able to find the net. Sadly, Tennessee had a great counter attack to advance their lead to two with a Sammy Woods goal. The game was not over for Florida Atlantic as Michelle Horan had a shot on goal, but it was too little too late of an attack. The matched ended the same score as last years at 2-0 in favor of the Lady Vols. The Vols had 16 shots with five on goal. Five different Owls had a shot with Drew Dempsey and Michelle Horan being the two with a shot on goal. Ashley Small had three save performance against Tennessee’s Ally Zazzara two saves. Florida Atlantic had ten fouls to Tennessee’s ten. Finally, The Owls had four corner attempts to Tennessee’s three. Florida Atlantic (0-4-2) heads to North Texas as they start conference play. The Mean Green are 4-2-1 on the season. Both the Owls and North Texas played #24 Alabama this season with both teams falling to the Crimson Tide. The Mean Green kept the match close falling 2-1, while for FAU it was a close first half but a second half not to remember. The match starts at 8 P.M. EDT on Thursday, September 12th.
