Nov. 9, 2001

Orlando, FL - Florida Atlantic University defeated Campbell University, 1-0, in a semifinal match at the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Friday in Orlando. With the win, the Lady Owls advance to Saturday's championship match for the second straight season. FAU entered the match as the tournament's no. 3 seed while Campbell was no.2.

Florida Atlantic scored a goal in the second half and shut down the Campbell offense in a match that was a defensive struggle. Neither team could get much offense going in the first half as they played to a scoreless tie at the intermission. Both teams combined for just three first half shots.

Lauren Lucena scored what turned out to be the winning goal at the 58:18 mark. Sophomore Rhonda Jones won a ball in midfield and sent a perfect through-ball to Lucena who was able to fend off a Campbell defender and send a right-footed shot into the corner past Campbell goalkeeper Erin Switalski for the 1-0 lead.

The Lady Owls then applied more offensive pressure looking to put the game away with a second goal. Freshman Brandi Herrmann hit the cross bar after redirecting a corner kick, and Switalski was able to clean up the rebound prevent another FAU score.

With only ten minutes remaining in the match, Campbell started to apply pressure to the FAU defense, but was unable to manage and solid scoring opportunities. Impressive defensive performances by the Lady Owls were turned in by Tamea Wimmer, Danielle Castro, and Jennifer Durkee. Capping off the defensive performance was Krista Fine who had the responsibility of marking high-scoring Campbell forward Sara Davis, who entered the contest as the leading goal-scorer in the A-Sun. In the end, Fine was able to hold Davis to no shots on goal.

"It was an incredible team effort," said head coach Brian Dooley. "Everyone was ready and played well. They converted a great chance to score and the battled hard the rest of the match. It was an all-around great performance."

With the win, FAU improves to 14-4-1 on the season. It extended the team's record winning streak and tied last year's record for wins in a season.

Florida Atlantic next faces host and no. 1 seed Central Florida in Saturday's championship match which can be seen live on Sunshine Network at 5:00pm. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. FAU played in last year's conference final only to lose to Jacksonville 2-1.