The University of North Florida men’s soccer team fell 3-2 in overtime to in-state foe Florida Atlantic on Sunday, Sept. 27, at Hodges Stadium.
“That’s the way the season is going for us,” head coach Ray Bunch remarked after the match. “We are working for our goals and are giving away goals. When heads are down, you have to fight through it and show strong character. It was very disappointing.”
“We got a couple of goals. I thought our performance was good. We haven’t started conference so our goal there is still to make the playoffs. We have to pick ourselves up and make sure this doesn’t happen again. We have to work hard and I thought we did that today.”
Neither team was able to score in the first half. Florida Atlantic posted a slight 6-to-4 advantage on shots in the first half with two shots on goal.
In the 51st minute of the match, the Ospreys broke the scoreless tie. Senior defender Matthew Hollyoak took a free from just inside midfield and crossed the ball to senior midfielder Frank Dinzey. Dinzey headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to give UNF a 1-0 advantage.
In the 63rd minute of the match, Dinzey was fouled inside of the box resulting in a penalty kick. Adam O’Neill took the penalty kick for North Florida and gave the host school a 2-0 lead.
FAU cut the UNF lead in half just under 73 minutes into the match. Florida Atlantic’s Sean Hart headed the ball off of a corner kick just out of the reach of the goalie to cut UNF’s lead to 2-1.
With just under two minutes remaining in regulation, Hart scored again to tie the match at 2-2. Hart picked up the ball off of a deflected shot to tie the score.
With just a minute and 13 seconds remaining in overtime, Florida Atlantic was able to score and claim the victory. FAU’s Darnell King crossed the ball from the touch line to Rocco Pecora who connected on the one-touch goal into the upper right corner of the net.
For the match, FAU finished with a 17-to-11 advantage on shots, but just a two-shot advantage on goal (7-5). The Ospreys recorded three saves, while the Owls only had two saves.
The University of North Florida will return to action on Friday, Oct. 2, as they open Atlantic Sun Conference play with a match against Florida Gulf Coast. The match with the Eagles is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Hodges Stadium and will be broadcast on ASun.TV.