On Friday, the Florida Atlantic Owls (4-6-3) defeated 14-ranked Florida International University (FIU) Panthers (8-3-3), 2-1.
The win against FIU places FAU higher in their bracket as they battle for the sixth tournament spot in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).
“We put ourselves in a great spot, winning tonight over FIU. We needed to win at home, and doing it against FIU felt awesome. Winning breeds confidence, we had two guys step in that were not scheduled to start, and they did fantastic,” head coach Joey Worthen stated.
In the 2022 regular season finale, the Owls had an opportunity to advance to the final playoff spot for the Conference USA Tournament. However, the top-seeded Panthers defeated the Owls 1-0, which resulted in the Owls being eliminated from contention. With Friday’s win, the Owls maintain the sixth place spot in the AAC Tournament, for now.
10 minutes into the first half, senior goalie Rotem Fadida prevented FIU from scoring early in the game with a save.
After that, graduate forward Victor Claudel scored, kicking the ball deep into the bottom left of the goal with an assist from graduate midfielder Leon Reilhac.
The Owls hustled throughout the first half, keeping the ball on the Panthers side of the field. The first half ended with FAU leading 1-0.
“Shooting the first goal gave us an advantage. It meant that they had to try and take the game from us, and they didn’t,” said Claudel after the game.
The second half started out strong when just three minutes in, junior forward Noah Kvifte scored, with an assist from junior midfielder Leo Keller into the bottom right of the net right past FIU’s graduate goalie Tyler Hogan.
The Owls played smart, keeping the ball away from their side of the field. junior defender Chadi Mayati had a notable save, keeping the Owls up 2-0.
With 15 minutes into the second half, it looked as though senior midfielder Arthur Widiez scored another goal for the Owls, but the ball bounced off the top of the goal.
The Panthers caught Fadida off guard with an open shot off of a steal, scoring halfway through the second half.
FAU picked up the momentum, ensuring FIU didn’t have the opportunity to score again. The Owls came out on top, ending the game with a score of 2-1.
The Florida Atlantic Owls take on the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Eagles (3-5-4) next Tuesday at 7 p.m. as they celebrate their senior night.
Christiana Eckard is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email her at [email protected] or @christianaeck_ on Instagram.
