Young's Goal Pushes #MSOC to 1-0 Win at Mercer

Saturday, October 26

Macon, Ga.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

-552, 131 ASun

Mercer

-3121, 141 ASun

North Florida

Mercer

Photo by: Todd Drexler

10/26/2013 9:17:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)

MACON, Ga. -- The North Florida men's soccer team snapped a six-game winless streak with a hard fought 1-0 road victory Saturday night at Mercer.

The Ospreys (5-5-2, 1-3-1 Atlantic Sun) collected the game winner in the 59th minute when Alex Morrell served a ball across the box finding a charging Sean Young, who buried the ball into the back of the net. The goal was the first of the season for Young and marked the team leading fourth assist for Morrell.

With the loss, the Bears extend their winless streak to six games and fall to 3-12-1 overall and 1-4-1 in conference play.

"I am extremely proud of the guys for earning this victory," said UNF head coach Derek Marinatos. "It feels great to get that first conference win and pick up those three points in the standings. We played with good effort tonight and did the things we needed to do to win. We are excited and looking forward to playing our next three games in Jacksonville. It was a good team win tonight."

After a scoreless opening half, both teams picked things up offensively. Mercer had a few quality scoring chance early in the second half but UNF keeper Brad Sienkiewicz turned them all back on his way to collecting seven saves on the night.

Young and Morrell each tallied two shots to pace an Osprey offense that was outshot slightly by Mercer, 12-9. UNF was much more aggressive in the second half with eight of their nine shot attempts in the game coming in the final 45 minutes. David Murtaugh finished with four shots including two on goal to lead the Bears' attack.

For UNF, the win marked the first road Atlantic Sun victory in Marinatos three-year tenure and was the first since a 2-1 at USC Upstate on Oct. 15, 2010. The Ospreys five victories on the season mark the most since winning nine matches in 2008. In addition, it was the team's third shutout of the season marking the second most of the Division I era.

The Ospreys close their regular season schedule playing their final three games in Jacksonville beginning next Saturday against Stetson at 7 p.m. at Hodges Stadium.