UNF men's soccer won the ASUN Tournament title with a 4-3 win over Central Arkansas on penalty kicks. | Submitted, UNF Athletics
Published on November 18, 2024 at 4:56 pm
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The UNF men’s soccer program will face West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament on Thursday night.
The Ospreys (7-7-4) beat Central Arkansas in penalty kicks on Saturday night to win the A-SUN Tournament title and earn their first NCAA Tournament berth in nine years.
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Senior forward Joaquin Acuna found the side netting in the fifth round of penalty kicks to give the Ospreys a 4-3 win at Jacksonville’s Hodges Stadium. The match ended 3-3 after 110 minutes.
Anton Khelil, Tyler Prebenda and Rafa Rios all converted penalty kicks for UNF. Iu Pentinat saved a penalty kick from Central Arkansas’ Yamato Fujishima in the third round of the shootout.
UNF started the season with one win in its first seven matches. In the 11 games since, the Ospreys have scored 26 goals.
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First-year head coach Jamie Davies says the turnaround is due to the team’s grit and belief that more scoring chances will arise.
“I think we had a clear vision at the start for them and a clear (idea) of what we wanted to achieve,” Davies says. “So, they kind of had that in mind. And, I think I picked a really good staff as well. The assistant coaches are so connected to the boys that I think when you’re in those moments, they want to run through a brick wall for you.”
Acuna has scored 10 goals in his last nine games.
“He’s seeing more chances and opportunities than he’s ever seen in his four-year career. Before it was different with the types of chances he was getting and how the team was playing. Now that we’re playing this way, he’s really seeing the benefits of that. He’s in front of goal a lot more than he used to be. He’s the same player. He’s in a different picture, in a different environment and he’s reaping the rewards of it.”
So are the Ospreys. UNF is the only program from Florida to earn a berth in this year’s NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament.
Davies hopes the conference championship will invigorate the UNF community. Scores of students stormed the pitch at Hodges Stadium after Acuna’s penalty kick found the side netting and won the ASUN title.
“That’s what dreams are made of. You could see it with the administrative people and people who work in an office here at UNF were out on the pitch and so excited,” Davies said. “It makes you proud to be a part of UNF. That’s what I was almost most emotional about after the game. I thought ‘Holy cow. We just brought a whole university together.’ To see this emotion and people so happy that, maybe, don’t even have anything to do with soccer and put a smile on their faces and everything like that. I think that was the most cool part.”
If UNF eliminates West Virginia (12-1-7), to earn the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory, it would face No. 11 seed Virginia in the second round on Sunday.
