FAU men’s soccer (3-4-2, 2-0-1 AAC) picked up a 2-1 victory in Orlando on Saturday night, taking down the University of Central Florida Knights (4-4-0, 1-3-0 AAC) in the process. 

With the win, the Owls beat the Knights for the first time since 2008. That year was also a road victory for FAU with a 1-0 score.

The first half was balanced for both sides. FAU and UCF took six shots each, as the Owls had their only shot on target during the period from senior forward Victor Claudel in the 13th-minute. However, UCF’s freshman goalkeeper Juanvi Munoz stopped his attempt.

Graduate goalkeeper Axel Hofmann fended off the Knights’ advances in the first half, denying three shots on goal to keep the Owls level.

FAU broke the deadlock in the 51st-minute. After UCF’s freshman forward Emmanuel Bam committed a foul in the penalty box, Claudel fired the spot kick to the bottom-left corner of the net.

UCF equalized six minutes later. Bam got the ball to junior forward Lucca Dourado, who struck it to the bottom-left corner of goal.

The Owls took back the momentum of the game in the 68th-minute. Graduate midfielder Blake Dean had the ball as he fired it to the top-left corner of the net to have what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.

UCF tried to tie the game after conceding by taking three shots with two on target, but Hofmann kept them away for his sixth and seventh saves of the night, a season-high.

The Owls will now head to Oklahoma to take on the University of Tulsa, currently ranked 12th in the country, on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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