Owls went to Birmingham for their first taste of conference, but Florida Atlantic could not slow down the Blazers attack falling 3-2 from a late UAB goal.
UAB scored the first goal of the match off of a Tony Kim header from a Simon Halt corner in the 12th minute. It was the first shot of the game for the Blazers.
The first half continued in way of the Blazers as UAB’s Ole Jessen was able to extend the lead to two with a 31st minute goal.
At the half, the Owls had many opportunities to get on the board as they had six shots with four on goal. The Blazers had the same amount of shots on goal. It just came down to who controlled the ball more, and it was UAB in the first half.
After a couple of opportunities neither team could find the net to start the second half. In the 64th minute though, Florida Atlantic finally striked as Noah Kvifte found the Aboubacar Traore pass to make it only a one goal advantage for the Blazers 2-1.
Eleven minutes later, Traore scored his second goal of the season to draw the match at two. It was now time for either team to find the advantage. The Blazers were able to do so with a Mathias Groth goal to give the lead back to UAB in the 84th minute. The goal was the final nail in the coffin as the Owls fought hard, but fell 3-2 to the Blazers.
Traore and Kvifte were the two goal scorers for FAU as the Owls had 15 shots with eight on goal. UAB had eight shots with six on goal. Nacho Alfaro kept the match close with three saves, while UAB’s Jonathan Munteanu had five saves. FAU had five corner attempts while the Blazers had four.
Florida Atlantic (2-3-1) (0-1-0) travels to Jacksonville to face Jacksonville University (1-4-2). The Dolphins are searching for their first home win against the Owls as they are 0-1-1 at home. FAU’s job will be to keep shots limited as Jacksonville only has one match where they have scored more than one goal (3-0 victory against Dayton). The match starts at 7 P.M., Tuesday, Sept. 24th.