Razorbacks FAU battle to 1-1 tie

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Allie Chandler scored in the 21st minute of Friday’s match against Florida Atlantic to give the Razorback soccer team the lead, but a late goal by the Owls’ Ashley Mannarino sent the contest to overtime. Both extra periods went by without another score and the teams came away with a 1-1 tie at the FAU Soccer Complex."I saw some good things tonight but we had a slow start and I think that affected our confidence," head coach Erin Aubry said. "FAU was very organized and very well coached and did a nice job of forcing us to solve some problems. It took us a little while to solve those and, unfortunately, I think that set the pace of the game for us. The team fought really hard to get out of that mentality and they were successful, but it was just one of those games were it was too little, too late."The Razorbacks spent the early moments of the first half defending the FAU attack before gaining control of the flow of play. Chandler’s third goal of the season gave Arkansas the 1-0 advantage at the 20:58 mark. The freshman forward put a 12-yard shot to the far post past Owls’ goalkeeper Ashley Lantes for the score. Chandler now leads the team in scoring with eight points.Arkansas goalkeeper Britni Williams helped her own cause with two grabs on a pair of crosses to take away any opportunities for FAU. On the Owls’ third corner kick of the opening half, Williams used her 5-11 frame to come off her line to elevate and snatch the ball over the head of potential attackers. Williams finished the match with four saves, tying a season high.In the second half, the Razorbacks picked up the pressure, doubling their opponents’ shot total, but weren’t able to find the back of the net. Laurel Pastor knocked a shot from out front toward the FAU goal in the 66th minute, but Lantes jumped for a sprawling, one-handed deflection to keep her team within one goal. Pastor had another opportunity in the 71st minute after working her away around the corner and into the box, but her shot misfired into the side of the net.Arkansas outshot the Owls, 23-14, and was led by Pastor and Kelsey Allison with six and five shots, respectively. Both shot totals were a season high for each player. The Razorbacks’ 23 shots and six corner kicks each equal season highs.With just under 10 minutes to play, FAU’s Laura Hyvonen lined a shot at the Razorback goal, but Williams stretched high to tip the ball away. On the resulting corner kick, Williams once again pulled down a cross to keep Arkansas out of trouble.However with the clock dipping under four minutes, the Owls built an attack that resulted in Mannarino’s goal at the 86:16 mark. The initial attack drew Williams out and the ball was blocked away but right to the foot of Mannarino who lobbed a shot over the Arkansas defenders to net the game-tying goal.The score snapped Arkansas’ scoreless streak of nearly 486 minutes. It was the first goal allowed by the Razorbacks since the second half of the Air Force contest, the second match of the season.In the first overtime period, neither team mounted much offense and the ten-minute period went by without either team registering a shot or corner kick. The first minute of the second extra stanza saw the Razorbacks earn a corner kick but the set play ended up too far past the box. As the end of the match neared, both teams sent numbers forward but were unable to score the game-winning goal.Arkansas travels to Miami for its final non-conference match of the season, a Sunday meeting with FIU which is set for a noon (CT) start. Live stats will be available at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

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