The Florida Atlantic University Owls men’s soccer team lost to the University of Central Florida Knights 2-0 during their first preseason exhibition on Saturday, Aug. 10.
Last season, the Owls were 6-8-3 with a 3-5 record in the American Athletic Conference. The Knights went 10-4-2 and 6-2-1 in the Big 12. It was the first year that both schools had attended those conferences. FAU replaced UCF in the AAC as they advanced to the Big 12.
Going into the game, the Owls knew it would be a challenge. Historically, UCF has dominated FAU, leading the all-time series between the two, 23-9. The last time the schools faced each other was Oct. 1, 2022, when FAU won 2-1.
“We have 21 new guys, so two-thirds of our roster is new. For us to line up and for all of the guys to play, they’re healthy, and everybody got minutes is a big positive,” said head coach Joey Worthen. “We saw a lot of good things in the game that we’ve been working on this week and there’s a lot more that we need to continue.”
The scrimmage was divided into four halves. The first two were 35 minutes. The third scrimmage was 30 minutes and the final half was 15 minutes.
During the first half, the ball possession was fairly even between the teams. UCF did well in passing internally and they kept the ball around the center line.
UCF gained the first corner kick of the game at 24 minutes. The initial kick was missed, but as the ball began to get passed back in play, FAU forward Aboubacar Traore took a ball to the face in close proximity. He went to the ground momentarily but arose soon after.
Tensions began to heat up as UCF’s midfielder Javier López Sánchez pulled FAU forward Oliver Moller-Jensen’s shirt, resulting in a fall to the ground. Sánchez received a yellow card for the action.
The Knights picked up their momentum at the end of the second half and drove downfield. Forward Carlos Rojas made an attempt that was deflected off FAU’s goalie back to him. He reacted quickly and shot to the left of the net, bringing in the first score of the game, 1-0.
The Owls started to heat up offensively in the third half. They maintained control of the ball and almost scored a goal from a corner kick, but it skimmed right over the crossbar.
UCF forward Joey Mueller stole the ball from FAU and rushed downfield. He quickly passed the ball to midfielder Itai Levisman who kicked the ball to the upper right corner for a goal, 2-0.
Entering the final 15-minute half, FAU continued making offensive attempts and had two close scores but ultimately had no success. UCF won with a final score of 2-0.
“We’ve been in [practice] for one week, so there’s a lot that we’ve been able to put in and I thought we saw some good glimpses of those things on both the attacking and defensive side.” Worthen said. “There’s a lot that we’re going to have to continue to work on and put together as we go into the game next week.”
FAU will play one more home preseason game against Palm Beach Atlantic on Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. Their regular season will begin on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. against Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Megan Bruinsma is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email her at [email protected] or DM her on Instagram @megan_bruinsma or X (Twitter) @MeganBruinsma.
