Men's Soccer Forces 2-2 Draw at Mercer

Saturday, September 24

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

1-6-1, 0-2-0

Mercer

3-2-4, 0-0-0

North Florida

Mercer

Ethan Ash dribbling the ball while on defense.

9/24/2022 9:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

First Multi-Score Match of the Season

MACON, Ga. - North Florida men's soccer (1-6-1) put up a pair of goals to force an electric 2-2 draw at Mercer (3-2-4) on Saturday evening.

Bendeguz Burka scored within the first minute of the match to give UNF its earliest lead in a game this season. After allowing a pair of scores, the Ospreys bounced back after Joaquin Acuna made an acrobatic goal inside the box to secure a comeback draw on the road.

GOALS

1' | Bendeguz Burka (Bryson Smith & Braden Masker) - UNF
41' | Dylan Gaither (Ousman Jabbing) - MER
55' | William Pondeca (Kevin Kim) - MER
62' | Joaquin Acuna (Dean Walker & Rio Onwumere) - UNF

HOW IT HAPPENED

It only took 33 seconds for the Ospreys to strike on offense, as Burka got it past the keeper from outside the box for an early 1-0 lead.
Micah Gun flashed his mitts in the first half with a pair of saves in the 24th minute to keep the one-goal lead with UNF.
Burka and Ale Rodriguez Lopez had a couple shot attempts, but both fell off the mark in the 32nd minute.
Just before the break, Dylan Gaither executed on a score assisted from Ousman Jabang to equalize in the 41st minute.
Mercer struck again off a corner kick opportunity, as Kevin Kim kicked it in to William Pondeca to head it into the net just over 10 minutes into the second half.
The Bears didn't hold their lead for long, as Acuna took the ball mid-air on a pass from Dean Walker and knocked it into the goal off the post for the equalizing score in the 62nd minute.
UNF put a stop to a few late attacks by Mercer to secure a 2-2 draw on Saturday evening.

RECORDS

North Florida | 1-6-1
Mercer | 3-2-4

QUICK KICKS

Two goals scored by Burka and Acuna is the most goals scored by UNF this season.
Acuna scored his second goal in as many games, while Burka scored his first since playing Lipscomb on Oct. 9, 2021.
UNF only had three total shots on goal, but put two of those three into the back of the net.
Gun earned a career-high five saves in just his second appearance with the Ospreys at keeper.
Five saves on Saturday night was also a season-high from any UNF keeper on the year.
There have now been 11 total goals scored combined in the past two meetings between UNF and Mercer.

FROM THE MOUTH OF MARINATOS

"It was obviously a pretty physical game. It was a battle against Mercer, who has gotten some great results this year. I thought at 1-0, scoring early at the beginning of the game, it was great. We came out with a good mentality and got one early. We were a bit unfortunate with the two corners. They scored a great first goal, but we should've done a better job of defending the set piece. It was a great design on the set piece and the guy had a fantastic strike. When we went down in the second half, I was proud of the team as we came back. We scored the second goal to tie up and we had a chance to score a breakaway with 10 seconds left. For the guys here, we made steps forwards with our first multi-goal game that we've had this year. We also had the lead early and we came from behind, so for our standpoint, it was progress as a group."
-- head coach Derek Marinatos

UP NEXT

The Ospreys will have a week off to regroup before traveling for their third-straight road match to continue ASUN play at Queens (N.C.) on Saturday Oct. 1, at 6 p.m.