BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University men's soccer (4-8-3, 3-3-2 AAC) conquered one of the best teams in the nation on Friday night with a 2-1 victory over No. 12 SMU (9-4-1, 5-3 AAC) on senior night. The Owls jumped UCF and Charlotte into sixth place in the AAC standings with one game to go in the regular season. The top six at seasons' end qualify for the postseason tournament.
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Entering the match as clear underdogs, the Owls had to simply survive the lethal SMU attack early on. To do that, they needed their goalkeeper to stand tall and as, he's done most of his career,
Neil Strauber was up to the task. His best save of the night came in the 12th minute when the Mustangs' Alexander Petraeus made his way into the penalty area and cut to the inside. Petraeus launched an attempt headed straight to the top right corner, but Strauber denied him with a diving stop to keep the match scoreless.
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Three minutes later, the FAU offense hit on the counter.
Tom Abrahamsson's cross to the middle of the Mustang penalty area was one-timed off the underside of the crossbar and in by freshman
Sebastian Zettl. The Austrian's first career goal had the AAC's first place squad temporarily stunned.
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The Owls led for just over 25 minutes before SMU finally broke through with the equalizer just before halftime. The match went into the intermission tied at 1-1 with everything still to play for in the final 45.
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The FAU defense continued to hold its shape for the first 30 of the second half and the stalemate remained into the final 10 minutes. In the 81st min., the Owls once again made the most of an opportunity off the counter. Defender
Chadi Mayati sent a through ball down the sideline for
Victor Claudel to run onto. Claudel delivered a cross through the six-yard box where
Andreas Raisanen was waiting at the backdoor to tap it home.
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Raisanen's third goal of the campaign held up as the winner, and for the second time this season the Owls took points off a Top 15 opponent at home. Strauber finished with six saves to earn the GK win.
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"This is a big win because SMU is a great team. Full credit to them," noted head coach
Joey Worthen. "We've talked about having the fight and the intensity but then being able to execute and we did that tonight against one of the top teams in the country. For our seniors, to get an upset win in their final home game is great for them to go out on."
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The Owls now control their own destiny with one opponent left on the schedule. They'll make the one-hour trip south to Miami on Wednesday to meet FIU (10-4-1, 5-2-1 AAC) for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Florida Atlantic will need at least one point to guarantee a place in the American postseason tournament.
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