Head coach Jamie Davies made program history last season, leading UNF men’s soccer to its first ASUN Championship and NCAA tournament in program history. Entering his second year as the head man, Davies may have wondered what other firsts he could accomplish after last season.
In UNF’s home opener, Davies already added to his list of firsts. On ‘904 Day,’ following UNF women’s soccer’s 3-2 win over Georgia Southern, the men’s soccer team shut out No. 19 Florida Atlantic 5-0, capping off a doubleheader sweep for both Osprey soccer teams.
This marks UNF’s first ranked win since 2016, when the Ospreys outlasted No. 11 FGCU. Although UNF still has a losing record, even after this momentous win, the Ospreys’ two victories are notable, including a shutout over Wisconsin and a ranked FAU team.
During a chippy Thursday night at Hodges Stadium, five different Ospreys scored goals, including career firsts from Mark Romano and Brian McManus Jr., sealing the blowout UNF win.
First Half
Three different Ospreys fired off shots in the first 12 minutes, foreshadowing what was to come for the UNF offensive attack. One minute after UNF’s first shot, sophomore Geraldo Neto’s diving header broke the scoreless tie, capitalizing on a long-range pass from Jaylen Yearwood, who had a career high three assists.
Technically, that goal would’ve been all UNF needed to blank the Owls, but the Ospreys weren’t satisfied with just one goal. Over halfway through the first frame, McManus Jr. secured his first career goal on another Yearwood well-timed assist, doubling the Ospreys’ advantage.
Towards the end of half one, the Owls went into attack mode, launching two additional shots. Holding serve, the Ospreys went into the locker room with a two-score lead and a shutout still intact.
Second Half
For the duration of the second half, eight cards were issued, evenly distributed among the two years. FAU opened up the card-littered half with a yellow card. However, that turned out to be a warm-up for the Owls.
One minute later, FAU was issued a red card, prompting the Owls to play one-man short. Overcoming a 2-0 deficit on the road is already difficult, but being a player short makes it nearly impossible.
UNF continued its goal-scoring barrage seven minutes after the red card. Sophomore Kaiss Mansouri went around an Owls defender and made a long crosser just inside the box, securing his first goal as an Osprey.
Redshirt senior Luc Granitur added to the onslaught, scoring off a double assist while Yearwood notched a single-match career high. Lastly, Romano landed his first career goal and then knocked down the decorative fence to celebrate with the UNF faithful.
It was the perfect ending to a nearly perfect night for the Ospreys.
Postgame reaction
“I think you can tell by the performance that we just wanted to be home,” Davies said, referring to the Ospreys’ season-opening four-game, two-state road trip.
UNF opened its season defeating Wisconsin, but faltered and lost the next three games. Davies wants his team to learn from that early stretch and not get overly excited about this win.
“No need to get cocky or anything like that,” Davies said. “Stick to what we do, turn up every day to training and work really hard.”
UNF will remain at home and host what Davies called a “very good” Georgia Southern team on Monday, Sept. 8. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. inside Hodges Stadium.
