Men’s Soccer: Owls begin AAC play with a 1-1 draw against USF

FAU snapped the three-game losing streak with the draw.

Eston Parker III

University Press stock photo of Spencer Mallion.

Matthew Vogdes, Contributing Writer

FAU men’s soccer (1-3-2, 0-0-1 AAC) ended their three-game losing streak with a 1-1 tie against the University of South Florida Bulls (1-3-2, 0-0-1 AAC) Friday night in Boca Raton.

This was the Owls’ first game in the American Athletic Conference, with last season being their final year as members of Conference USA.

In the early minutes of the game, neither side got anything going on the offensive end. It was not until the 27th minute when FAU’s fifth-year goalkeeper Neil Strauber made a diving save to keep the score level.

FAU had a decent chance in the 33rd minute when sophomore midfielder Zach Hassell put a shot on net with some speed, but USF’s redshirt senior goalkeeper Jackson Weyman made the save.

The Bulls put away the first goal of the game in the 38th minute. Sophomore midfielder Marcus Victorio played in an elevated ball that freshman forward Alex Sannes headed into the net, putting USF up 1-0.

FAU went into halftime down a goal, but quickly leveled the score in the 52nd minute. Junior midfielder Spencer Mallion played a ball into the box from a free kick about 50 yards out, as junior defender Kyle Gruno put it into the goal with a header to make the score 1-1.

It seemed as if FAU took the lead in the 74th minute when freshman forward Andreas Raisanen put one into the goal, but the referee called him offsides and, as a result, the goal did not count.

FAU’s next game will be at home against the University of North Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast on Fausports.com.

Matthew Vogdes is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected] or DM him @mattvogdes