Oct. 19, 2004

BOCA RATON, FL - Florida Atlantic University's women's soccer team can clinch its sixth consecutive Atlantic Sun Championship appearance when the team faces Troy University on Friday. The Lady Owls, ranked 13th in the southeast region by Soccerbuzz, inched a little closer with wins over Jacksonville and Stetson last weekend as they extended their unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1). FAU (9-3-3, 6-2-1 A-Sun) is third in the conference.

Troy (5-8-3, 3-3-2) is 0-5 all-time against FAU and has been outscored 17-3 with three shutouts. Last season the Lady Owls defeated Troy 3-1 to clinch their second consecutive A-Sun regular season championship. Christina Chang tied the game with her seventh goal of the year while Cristina Rodriguez assisted on Kari Fernandez's game-winning goal minutes later.

The Trojans, sixth in the A-Sun, are led by freshmen Brittany Stoltz and Kate Hyslop. Stoltz is tied for sixth in the conference with 17 points and is tied with Hyslop for the team lead in goals with six. Keeper Laura Longard is second in the conference in saves (94) but seventh in goals-against average (1.76) and save percentage (.764).

Katri Nokso-Koivisto has taken the offensive reins from Denise Brolly after scoring five goals and registering an assist in her last three games. The junior transfer is second on the team to Brolly in goals (9) and points (22) and fourth in the conference in both categories.

With Nokso-Koivisto and Brolly scoring the goals, Susanna Lehtinen has been serving them up. Lehtinen leads the team, and is second in the conference, with 10 assists. The freshman from Espoo, Finland needs three more assists to tie the program record for assists in a season.

Defensively, FAU has held five opponents without a first-half shot, allowed only 5.7 shots per game during its unbeaten streak and has shutout six of its last seven opponents. Megan Coyne is currently tied for the program's lowest goals-against average in a season with a 0.85 GAA and tied for fourth for shutouts in a season (5).

For ticket information, call 866-FAU-OWLS.