The UNF men’s soccer team began its Atlantic Sun Conference campaign with a 2-1 double-overtime win Oct. 3 against East Tennessee State University.

Sophomore forward Akil DeFreitas won the game for UNF (5-5-0, 2-0-0 A-Sun) when he scored his second goal of the game with four minutes left in the second half of overtime.

“Winning the conference opener is a big boost of confidence for us,” UNF head coach Ray Bunch said. “Though we were able to finish strong for the win, we still came out with a slow start, which has been our major problem this season.”

ETSU (4-5-0, 0-2-0 A-Sun) scored first around the 10th minute of the game when Russell Thompson kicked the ball into the back of the net.

The Ospreys tied the game in the 29th minute. The game went into halftime at 1-1, and at the end of regulation, the game was still tied at 1-1.

In the first half, there were 17 shots – five of which came from the Ospreys. However, the Ospreys out shot the Bucs in the second half, 9-6.

“We came out as a much better team in the second half and that carried into overtime,” Bunch said. “Mentally, we seemed very strong after halftime, which helped our confidence in overtime. However, if we are going to be successful in conference play this season, we absolutely must learn to begin the game the way we began the second half today.”

The Ospreys went on to earn their second straight A-Sun Conference win Oct. 5 with a 3-0 win against the University of South Carolina Upstate.

The UNF men’s soccer team will continue A-Sun play Oct. 9 when it hosts Campbell University.

E-mail Vincent Pesce at sports@unfspinnaker.com.