Sept. 21, 2007

Box Score

GAINESVILLE, FL - Jessica Badders turned aside seven shots and extended her scoreless streak to 330:13 as the Florida Atlantic University women's soccer team battled no. 9 University of Florida to a scoreless tie at James G. Pressly Stadium.

"We knew it would be a difficult game," said Head Coach Brian Dooley. "We schedule teams like this because if we have success within our conference we're going to face teams like this in the NCAA Regionals."

Despite being short on available players due to injury and illness, the Owls staved off a fierce Gator attack that fired 17 shots.

"For us to come up with an effort like that under the circumstances is tremendous," said Dooley. "This is the kind of effort it's going to take to be successful in the Sun Belt."

The two teams played a dry, scoreless first half, with the Gators firing six shots to Owls' one. Susanna Lehtinen had the Owls' only registered shot attempt, sailing a ball over the crossbar in the eighth minute.

In the second half, however, rain soaked the field and action had to be halted in the 79th minute due to lightning.

FAU registered its only shot on goal of the game after play resumed with the field covered by standing water. Alicia Tirelli fired an attempt that was turned aside by UF goalkeeper Katie Fraine in the 88th minute.

It was determined after regulation that the field was in no condition to continue play, and the two teams agreed to a tie.

"It was one of those games where if we had just a little bit more, we would have been very excited about a big win," said Dooley. "We had a lot of half chances, where we were just one or two favorable bounces away."

FAU's sophomore goalkeeper Badders made two stops in the first half before getting in front of five shots in the second half. It's the most saves she's registered in a single game this season.

With the tie, the Owls (3-3-1) finish the non-conference portion of the schedule at .500, and will open their Sun Belt Title chase against Middle Tennessee State on September 28.