Soccer Earns Huge Road Victory at UAB

Saturday, October 23

Birmingham, Ala.

8 PM

Florida Atlantic

7-4-2, 2-2-2

UAB

2-10-0, 0-5-0

Fla. Atlantic

UAB

Photo by: Michelle Friswell

10/23/2021 11:19:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Florida Atlantic University men's soccer team (7-4-2, 2-2-2 in Conference USA) defeated UAB (2-10, 0-5 C-USA) on Saturday night, 3-1. After losing three straight, the Owls were hungry to find their way back in the win column, and they did just that behind a well-balanced team effort on both sides of the ball.

How It Was Decided

First Half

FAU took some time to get rolling on the offensive side of the ball, but the defense came to play, delivering huge stops on promising UAB attacks in the opening minutes. At the eighth minute, Luis Sailer Fidalgo was able to disturb some dangerous movement on UAB's side. FAU on the counterattack had what looked to be a good opportunity set up for Pontus Steffensen, but an FAU foul put that drive to a halt. FAU continued to be fiery on defense, putting up tremendous stops on UAB chances, as UAB outshot FAU 5-0 with 17 minutes in.

At the 22nd minute, a mistake by FAU led to an open net, leaving an easy opportunity for UAB to strike first. Following the goal, Jose Alastuey kicked the ball off to Alonso Coello Camarero who delivered a long cross to Steffensen. The freshman beat his defender to strike in the low corner of the right net for his first career goal, which came eight seconds following UAB's strike. After Steffensen's goal, the Owls rolled with a ton of momentum throughout the remainder of the match. The Owls looked to have a great opportunity set up for Zach Hassell at the 36th minute, but the freshman's shot was just a bit too strong and sailed over the net. At the end of 45 minutes of play, FAU and UAB were tied at one, apiece.

Second Half

Following a few chances by UAB, FAU began to control possession. At the 54th minute, Daniel Skistad delivered a long cross to Blake Dean on the left side of the net. Dean found an open Ivan Mykhailenko in the low left corner of the net who delivered the goal and the Owls took a 2-1 lead. UAB was trying hard to find the equalizer, but kept falling short thanks to big plays by FAU defenders, including Tim Bernhardsson.

At the 72nd minute, UAB delivered a great shot, but Neil Strauber came up with the save of the night, fully extending to prevent the ball from passing by him. Not long after, Célestin Theodore got thrown down in the Owls' box to draw the foul. This set up Filip Jauk for the penalty kick try at the 75th minute, and the freshman drained it to give the Owls much needed insurance. With a 3-1 FAU lead, UAB had another great chance at the 80th minute, but the shot hit the cross bar. The Owls kept on looking to tack another goal to its lead, but the UAB keeper came up with good saves. Regardless, the Owls left Birmingham victorious with a big 3-1 road win.

Of Note

Steffensen registered his first career goal and now has three points on his freshman campaign
Mykhailenko logged his sixth goal of the year, which resulted in being the game winner. The striker's 19 goals is tied for the sixth most career goals, while his nine career game winners is the second most in program history
Jauk tallied his eighth goal of the season, which is a team's most
Coello Camarero delivered his third assist of the season, ninth of his career
Dean logged his third assist of the season, seventh of his career
Skistad tacked on his second assist of the defender's senior season
Strauber was credited with three saves on the night, two of which were great stops by the keeper
Tim Bernhardsson, Coello Camarero, Vasilis Spinos and Strauber played all 90 minutes of the match
Damean Dominguez played the most minutes of his young career, logging 41 minutes in the big win
The Owls have won three straight against the Blazers
FAU outshot UAB 15-13

Worthen's Words of Wisdom

"I'm really, really pleased with the guys," said head men's soccer coach Joey Worthen. "To come on the road and get three points is not easy, and especially the battle back from being down 3-1. The way we responded and scored right after kickoff kind of set the tempo for the rest of the game. We saw a tremendous amount of fight and competitiveness from the guys tonight, and I'm just really pleased. A lot of guys got minutes. I think Damean [Dominguez] came on and had the most minutes he has had all year and did really well. Neil [Strauber] didn't do great on the first goal, but made some big saves in the second half to keep us in it. I'm just pleased with the guys. The way we responded off the Charlotte game, to be able to get the result tonight and do it with picking up three goals, I just couldn't be more pleased. I'm really happy with them all and look forward now to Tuesday at North Florida."

Up Next

FAU will stay on the road, as the team travels to North Florida to face the Osprey on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. Live stats can be followed here and live video can be streamed here.

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