Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Men's Soccer Faces Final Two A-Sun Opponents
10/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 30, 2003
BOCA RATON, FL - Florida Atlantic University's men's soccer team travels to Georgia this weekend to face Mercer and Georgia State in its final two Atlantic Sun regular season matches before the conference tournament. The Owls, second in the A-Sun, could receive a first-round bye by defeating both teams. FAU will be looking for its first win against Mercer since 1998 when the team plays Friday at 7:30 pm. Florida Atlantic's match against Georgia State is on Sunday at 1 pm.
FAU (8-7-1, 5-2 A-Sun) will look to build off of last weeks 4-0 win against Belmont, as the team set a program record for conference wins in a season. The Owls will have finished .500 or above in the conference for the eighth time in 11 years.
The Owls are running on all cylinders as the offense is ranked third in the nation in goals per game and is tied for first overall in goals scored. Three-time A-Sun Offensive Player-of-the-Week Kristoffer Aarskog, 13 goals and four assists, is sixth in the nation in points per game and seventh in goals per game. He has scored a goal in three consecutive games and has recorded eight points in his last four games. Josh Garbee cannot be overlooked though. The junior from Brandon, FL, has scored four goals over his last four games to move to third place in the conference in points.
Bjorn Masson is also on a tear, recording three assists in his last three games, setting a personal record for assists in a season (7) as well as tying the program record for career assists with 16. He is one point shy of his first double-digit points season.
Mercer (7-7, 5-2 A-Sun) holds a 5-9 career record against FAU. The Owls have gone 0-6-1 since defeating the Bears twice in 1998. Last season, Florida Atlantic played to a 1-1 tie with Mercer, as Ran Poliker scored the equalizer in the 78th minute from Gustavo Alencar and Garbee. The Bears are led by Del Olaoye offensively while Jonathon Riley is fifth in the conference with a 1.84 goals-against average.
Georgia State (7-5-2, 3-3-1 A-Sun) and FAU are tied 5-5 in the all-time series, while neither team has mustered up consecutive wins. Last season the Panthers defeated the Owls 2-1 with Poliker scoring the lone goal. GSU is led offensively by Stephen Adams (21 points) and Chris Mahaffey (18 points) and defensively by JB Wood, who is third in the conference with a 1.58 GAA.
The Owls return home Sunday, November 9 to play against Howard at 1 pm in the team's last home game of the year. Individual ticket prices are $4 for adults and $2 for seniors/children. For ticket information, call 866-FAU-OWLS.
