Box Score (PDF)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the second-straight season, the Dennis Viollet Cup will reside in Hodges Stadium after the North Florida men's soccer team (7-5-1, 3-0-1 A-Sun) defeated Jacksonville (3-10-1, 1-4 A-Sun) 1-0 at Southern Oaks Stadium. The victory guarantees the first A-Sun postseason game at Hodges Stadium since 2009.
 
Senior Drew Spragg netted his third goal of the season with just 5:02 remaining in the first half to aid the Ospreys in their second-straight win over the Dolphins. It marks the first time North Florida secured back-to-back victories over Jacksonville since the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
 
"Any time you play in a rivalry game like this you throw out the records and I have to credit to JU, it was a battle tonight," said Head Coach Derek Marinatos. "We're just excited we come in, get a win, get the cup and get another three points in conference. What we're really looking forward to is competing for a regular season championship next Saturday."
 
Marinatos pushed the right buttons and inserted Spragg and junior Jay Bolt just six minutes prior to the game-deciding score. Bolt started the play down the right side of the field and made a perfect cross to a streaking Spragg in the middle of the box. Spragg one-timed a powerful shot into the back of the net, leaving no time for the Dolphin defense to react.
 
Bolt was credited with his second assist of the season while Spragg moves into a tie for second on the team in goals.
 
The Osprey defense was stout once again and recorded its second-straight shutout. North Florida has surrendered only one goal, a penalty kick, in four conference games this season. Osprey opponents have not found the back of the net in the last 263 minutes of game action.
 
Senior Kyle Nasta made three saves for his seventh win of the season. His stop on Ejiroghene Mrabure's shot in the 30^th minute of the game was is 139^th of his career which breaks the Ospreys D-1 era record for career saves formerly held by Brad Sienkiewicz. Nasta is second to only Heath Hardin, who made 282 saves from 1992-95, on the school's all-time saves list.
 
With a Florida Gulf Coast 4-0 victory over USC Upstate this evening, the Ospreys trail the Eagles by three points going into the final match of thme season. With FGCU idle, North Florida will be playing for a share of its first ever Atlantic Sun Conference regular season Championship on Saturday Oct. 31 at 8:00 p.m. in Hodges Stadium.
 
No matter what the outcome, the Ospreys will be one of the top two seeds in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament beginning the weekend of Nov. 6.