Nov. 3, 2000

Boca Raton, FL -

Florida Atlantic University (14-5) defeated the University of Central Florida, 2-1, Friday night in semifinal action at the Trans America Athletic Conference Tournament in Boca Raton, FL. The victory advances the Lady Owls to Saturday's championship match at 4:00pm against Jacksonville University.

Lisanne Peart scored the game-winner for FAU as she connected with 17:24 left in the match off of an assist from Lauren Lucena.

UCF (8-11-1) took the first lead of the match with a goal by Jackie Kutudis at 27:17. Michelle Anderson and Cally Howell both assisted on the goal.

FAU took just 32 seconds to respond as Jessica Kmiotek send a shot over the head of UCF goalkeeper Carol Lewis from 15 yards out for her third goal in two matches. Lauren Manfrass got the assist. The score remained tied 1-1 at the half.

Both teams played stingy defense for the first 27 minutes of the second half before Peart's game-winner on an assist from Lauren Lucena. It was Peart's 16th goal of the season and second of the tournament.

"What we told the kids at halftime was the only way we win this game is if we outwork our opponent. Nothing to do with skill, nothing to do with possession," said FAU head coach Brian Dooley. "In the second half the kids worked hard. We didn't string together a whole lot of passes. We tried to get our forwards in deep positions, and the one time we did, we finished."

The FAU victory prevented UCF from defending its TAAC Championship of a year ago. The third-seed Lady Owls will face top-seed Jacksonville on Saturday as they try to avenge an earlier 1-0 loss to JU October 10 in Boca Raton. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.