SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Florida Atlantic men's soccer (7-2, 3-0) remained unbeaten in the American Conference after knocking off Missouri State (3-4-2, 1-3) on Friday night. With a 2-1 road victory over the Bears, the Owls are the only 3-0 team in the league.
The Owls entered the night 6-0 when scoring the first goal. So, when
Sebastian Zettl connected with the top left corner in the 34th minute to make it 1-0, the odds were in favor of the visitors. The Bears, however, were not ready to go down easily. They responded with the equalizer 10 minutes later, and the match went into halftime tied up.
FAU reclaimed the lead in the 74th minute with a highlight reel strike from leading scorer
Mamadou Diarra to make it 2-1. Diarra found space just outside the Missouri State penalty area and rifled home his sixth goal of the season.
The Owls settled in and defended for the final 15 minutes to secure another hard-earned three points in the league standings. Goalkeeper
Alfred Mikkelsen finished with two saves on seven Missouri State shot attempts.
Florida Atlantic is now 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2007. The Owls' next American Conference opponent will be Memphis at home on Sunday, October 12. Prior to that, FAU hosts FGCU on Wednesday, October 8, at 7 p.m. in a non-conference showdown.
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