Oct. 20, 2005

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FL -- Not even a bloody nose could stop Susanna Lehtinen in Florida Atlantic University's 3-0 victory over Kennesaw State University in women's soccer Thursday.

Lehtinen scored her 10th goal of the season just 26 seconds into the contest to give FAU a 1-0 lead, and they never looked back. Her nose was bloodied late in the second half, but she returned to the match shortly after. She currently ranks third among Atlantic Sun players in points with 29.

Alicia Tirelli would score a pair of goals, the first in the 8th minute off a cross from Lehtinen and the second in the 26th minute off a pass from Katri Nokso-Koivisto that KSU keeper Jessica Marek tried to coral but Tirelli beat her to it. The goals were a nice reward for Tirelli, who has had numerous scoring chances this season but bad luck has found a way to keep many strong chances out of the net. She now has three tallies on the year.

With the shutout victory, their 13th of the season, Florida Atlantic clinched the top seed in the A-Sun Conference Championships that will take place Nov. 3-5. FAU also clinched its third regular season title in four seasons.

The defense was once again superb, allowing just three shots on goal. Jessica Badders got the start and the victory, making two stops. She lowered her goals-against-average to 0.82, third-best among A-Sun keepers. Megan Coyne played the second half and made one stop, lowering her NCAA-best goals against average to 0.112.

FAU will now head to ETSU on Sunday for their regular season finale. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.