Miami Ties FAU in Home Opener

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against Florida Atlantic at Cobb Stadium Sunday evening.

“The season is so young,” head coach Sarah Barnes said. “These games early on show us what we’re doing well and give you a sense of how you can be dangerous. And then they expose you because of the lack of preparation with the short preseason. Overall, I thought we competed. Our effort to win the ball back was really, really good. We created a lot of goal opportunities. We’re showing ourselves to be more dangerous offensively this year. I’m encouraged by that, but there are a lot of things we still have to keep fine tuning so we can.”

Miami sophomore forward Tusca Mahmoudpour scored the solo tally for the Hurricanes (1-0-1) Mahmoudpour’s first career goal came in the 37^th minute off of a feed from veteran defender Emma Tucker.

FAU (0-0-2) equalized eight minutes later just before the halftime break.

In the 45^th minute, sophomore forward Michelle Horan found junior midfielder Noa Olivia Ganthier inside the six-yard box. Ganthier buried her first goal as an Owl with only seconds remaining on the clock.

Out of the intermission, Miami generated opportunity after opportunity.

The Hurricanes earned four corner kicks in the second frame and took three shots on net, but couldn’t find a game-winner.

“I’m proud of us,” Mahmoudpour said. “We fought hard. We could’ve had better results, but we gave it all we had tonight.”

Goalkeeper Melissa Dagenais kept the Owls quiet in the second half, as the graduate student finished with four saves on the night.

Up next, Miami welcomes rival Florida to Cobb Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Thursday.

To keep up with the University of Miami soccer team on social media, follow @CanesFutbol on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.