Owls Earn Draw Off Late Goal in Regulation

Tuesday, February 23

Fort Myers, Fla.

7 PM

Florida Atlantic

3-0-2, 0-0-0

Florida Gulf Coast

0-1-1, 0-0-0

Florida Atlantic

FGCU

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

2/23/2021 10:43:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University men's soccer team (3-0-2) forced a draw at Florida Gulf Coast (0-1-1) Tuesday night, 1-1. FAU trailed by a goal with time ticking down in regulation. Following a FGCU foul, Alonso Coello Camarero took the free kick to find Blake Dean, who delivered the equalizer with 14.5 seconds on the clock. FAU finishes non-conference with an undefeated record.

How It Was Decided

Both teams' backlines made it difficult for either side to set up offensive opportunities in the first half. After 45 minutes of play, the Owls had taken four shots to the Eagles two, but neither side was able to connect. Fabrizio Cubeddu had two of the Owls' shots, both on goal, in the first half with each being saved by the FGCU keeper.

Following a corner kick and some traffic in the box, FGCU's Tremain Simpson found the back of the net to put the Eagles on the board at the 68th minute. Coello Camarero had a great opportunity for the equalizer off a free kick at the 88th minute, but the shot went far right. Following the free kick, play was stopped due to an outage from one of FGCU's light posts. That 15-minute delay may have worked in the Owls' favor in the final two minutes of regulation. At the 90th minute, FGCU fouled to set up the Owls for another free kick try. Coello Camarero came up big, connecting with Dean who scored off a scramble and sent the game into overtime.

At the 107th minute, FGCU's Markus Maurer received his second yellow card within three minutes of his first to force the Eagles to play a man down the rest of the way. The Owls delivered their first attack of the second overtime period at the 109th minute from Adrian Levy, but both sides were held without a shot in either overtime frame. The Owls and Eagles ended the night in a draw, 1-1.

Of Note

Dean logged his second goal of the season to now tie with Coello Camarero for a team's most five points
Coello Camarero registered his first assist of the season, sixth of his career
Célestin Theodore, Jr. Coello Camarero and Cubeddu each delivered two shots
Neil Strauber tallied one save, while conceding just his second goal in five games
Coello Camarero, Dean, Cubeddu, Strauber, Daniel Skistad, Graeme Pratt, Arturo Ernand and Vasilis Spinos played all 110 minutes. Pratt has not had a sub yet this season, playing all 490 minutes on the field this spring
FAU outshot FGCU, 10-6
The Owls have ended the non-conference portion of the season undefeated. The last time FAU did that was in 2013

From Coach Worthen

"I'm really proud of the guys to keep fighting and find a way to fight back even with all adversity with lights going out and staying in the game," said head coach Joey Worthen. "They were really resilient and I'm really pleased with that."

On Another Great Performance by Coello Camarero:
"He is so reliable. You know what you are getting from him. He played well on both sides of the ball and cause them a lot of problems."

On the Team's Effort:
"This was a huge team result that says a lot about the character of the team to never give up. The experience the guys had in games previous to this led to the result."

Up Next

FAU will open up C-USA play at FIU on Saturday, March 5 at 2 p.m. The Owls will be back home at FAU Soccer Stadium to face Kentucky on Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m.

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