FAU men’s soccer (6-4-2, 3-4-0 C-USA) made a statement to end their season Saturday afternoon at FAU Soccer Stadium, as they won 2-1 against the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) (3-12-1, 1-5-1 C-USA).

The win marks the Owls’ first winning season since 2007, where they went 11-7-2 (5-0-1 ASC) and won the Atlantic Soccer Conference tournament.

UAB struck first in the eighth minute, taking advantage of a foul committed in the penalty box to get the first goal of the game. Senior forward Aodhan O’Hara scored the penalty for the Blazers.

FAU turned up the jets offensively after conceding that goal, understanding what they had to lose if they didn’t.

That offensive urgency came at the right time in the 26th minute when sophomore defender Graeme Pratt hit a shot that went off the post. Luckily for him, senior forward Ivan Mykhailenko was there to convert the second-chance effort, heading the ball in the net to equalize for FAU.

Mykhailenko continued being the most reliable goalscorer in the game for FAU as a foul in the penalty box in the 37th minute allowed him to score his second goal of the game and sixth of this season.

The second half heavily shifted to the defensive side of the ball, with both teams preventing each other from creating multiple opportunities to add more goals to the scoreboard.

UAB was just unable to get past FAU’s defensive wall as frustration boiled over in the 59th minute when senior midfielder Grayson Dupont got two yellow cards in 14 minutes of the second half to be disqualified from the game.

The Owls got the final shot on target in the 90th minute thanks to senior defender Daniel Skistad, but it was saved by UAB’s redshirt junior goalkeeper Seth Torman.

FAU was excellent in limiting UAB’s offense, only letting two shots be created the whole game. It was in stark contrast to the Owls’ 14 shots, including four of them being on target.

With the season officially over for the Owls, they will now prepare for next season.

Richard Pereira is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @Rich26Pereira.