Williams gets career mark against FIU
MIAMI, Fla. – Junior goalkeeper Britni Williams earned her 18th career shutout Sunday in Arkansas’ 2-0 victory over FIU. Behind goals from Ally Atkins and Kat Moffett, Williams tied a season-high with four saves to surpass Molly Myers atop the program’s shutout list. The win also gives Williams her 24th career victory which moves her into a tie for second place on Arkansas’ career list."I’ve definitely grown a lot," Williams said. "(Assistant coach) Tim Nowak and the other goalies have really helped me bring it to the next level, so I couldn’t have done this without them."Previous record holder, Myers played for Arkansas from 1989-92 and held the old mark of 17.5 career shutouts for 17 years. On the wins list, Williams is now tied for second with Myers and Kerri Reifel behind leader Carrie Dillsaver (2003-06) who tallied 28 victories during her collegiate career."(Britni) is a tremendous athlete," head coach Erin Aubry said. "I don’t think anyone is surprised by her getting this record. I think the team really wanted this for her. I know Friday night (against Florida Atlantic), we were a little disappointed that we couldn’t get a shutout for her, so we’re very proud of her."
Arkansas (6-0-2) opened the scoring in the 38th minute of the match. Sophie Wentz controlled the ball up the side and beat an FIU defender around the corner to the end line. She centered the ball to a streaking Tara Zika who fired a shot toward the goal. FIU goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage was there for the stop but the ball deflected right to Atkins who tucked the ball into the back of the net at the 37:26 mark to give the Razorbacks the 1-0 advantage.
The Razorbacks had the first scoring opportunity of the match when Kathleen Paulsen headed a corner kick from Moffett at the net in the fourth minute, but Savage made a diving save to her right to keep the Razorbacks off the scoreboard. The ensuing corner kick was knocked away by FIU before reaching an Arkansas attacker.
The Golden Panthers had their share of scoring opportunities in the opening half, too. At the 14:55 mark, FIU’s Kassandra Sorzano got behind the Razorbacks’ back line and line a shot toward the goal, but the shot went wide.
Less than a minute later, Kim Schleif, covering an empty net, knocked away a potential goal for the Golden Panther to keep FIU off the scoreboard. On the play, Deana Rossi lofted a shot over a charging Williams at the top of the 18-yard box, but Schleif ran back to boot the ball out of bounds before it rolled past the goal line.
"We were definitely disappointed in the first half," Aubry said. "I think the weather conditions, being as hot as it was today, we gave in to that a little in the first half, but the thing with this team is they will always fight back and we’re starting to see that fight sooner. So they chose to come out in the second half and finish the game off by playing Arkansas soccer."
Moffett notched her first goal of the season at the 62:49 mark to give the Razorbacks’ their second goal of the match. After a Laurel Pastor corner kick was settled back into the box, Atkins heeled the ball back to Moffett who was running down the middle of the box and the senior forward finished the play to give Arkansas the two-goal lead. Atkins finished the two weekend matches with a goal and a pair of assists.
Arkansas totaled a season-high nine corner kicks against FIU and outshot their opponents, 14-9, during Sunday’s match. Freshman defender Kate Singleton made the first start of her collegiate as Kelly O’Connor began the match at the forward position. She is the 20th different Razorback to startThe Razorbacks return home to open Southeastern Conference play Sept. 25 against Tennessee. The last time the two teams met in Fayetteville, Arkansas battled the then-No. 6 Lady Vols to a 1-1 tie. For more details about Razorback soccer, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
Download: 09.20 vs FIU.pdf
