JACKSONVILLE – North Florida men's soccer got a season-opening win thanks to a golden goal from senior Jake Hawker as the Ospreys beat USC Upstate, 1-0, on Friday evening at Hodges Stadium.
 
RECORDS
North Florida | 1-0
USC Upstate | 0-1
 
GOALS
UNF - 92' | Jake Hawker (Zane Bubb)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Senior Jake Hawker corralled a ball off the crossbar sent up by Zane Bubb and fired to the back of the net to give UNF the win.
- It was Hawker's fourth chance of the game as he led the team with four shots including two on target.
- In addition to Bubb's crossbar hit, the Ospreys had two other chances including one off the left post and Taylor Martin's free kick off the top in the 84th minute.
- Through the first 45 minutes it was evenly matched with UNF holding a slight 3-2 edge in shots.
- The lone chance came from Cormac Begley when Hawker played a ball through and the shot from Begley went right to the Upstate keeper.
- North Florida finished the match with an 15-2 shot margin
 
QUICK KICKS
- UNF now holds a slight 10-9-1 series edge all-time against the Spartans.
- The Ospreys have now won four of their last six home openers.
- Hawker's goal was the second of his career and first game-winner.
 
FROM THE MOUTH OF MARINATOS
I'm proud of the staff and all of the players that pitched in tonight. We fought for the whole game plus overtime. We got a shutout, we didn't give up a shot on goal and I think we blocked the other chances they had. We hit the crossbar twice and the post. What you saw is a team that is resilient. They kept fighting until we got the result – golden goal in overtime. To be 1-0 to start the season, it doesn't matter how we won, at the end of the day we got a good result at home against a tough Upstate team.
 
UP NEXT
North Florida takes a break thanks to Hurricane Dorian and return to action against Georgia State on Monday, Sept. 9.