FAU men’s soccer (2-4-2, 1-0-1 AAC) defeated the UAB Blazers (2-6-0, 0-2-0 AAC) to earn their first American Athletic Conference win in school history Saturday night.

Freshman forward Andreas Raisanen was the savior for the Owls, scoring his first goal this season in the 80th minute. Sophomore midfielder Zach Hassell got the assist with a solid cross into UAB’s penalty box for Raisanen to tap the ball into the net.

Both teams failed to take any shots in the first half. 

The Owls took control of the second half, having the majority of the possession and registered six shots. 

FAU defended well after scoring, as German graduate goalkeeper Axel Hofmann earned his first clean sheet in his career. He saved the Blazers’ two shots on target out of five overall. 

“The guys did a fantastic job tonight to respond the way that they did,” said FAU head coach, Joey Worthen. “We knew we needed these three points at home. We controlled the game. We had a lot of the ball, but we needed to find the goal. Congratulations to the guys and to Andreas for getting his first.”

The Owls will look to keep up the momentum as they head up to Orlando to prepare for their next match against the University of Central Florida on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Matthew Aguilar-Lizzi is a staff writer at the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected], or tweet him @mattaguilarUP