Men's Soccer Completes Magical Season at West Virginia

Thursday, November 21

Morgantown, W.V.

5 p.m.

University of North Florida

7-8-4, 4-2-1

West Virginia

13-1-7, 5-0-4

North Florida

West Virginia

11/21/2024 8:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Ospreys End Season Scoring Goal in 12 Straight Games

MORGANTOWN, W.V. - North Florida men's soccer's (7-8-4) historic, record-breaking season comes to an end with a narrow 2-1 defeat in the first round of the NCAA Championship tournament against West Virginia (13-1-7) on Thursday evening.

The Ospreys fought back after falling to a 2-0 deficit late in the second half with a score from Jaxon Reinhardt with just over four minutes remaining in the match. Reinhardt scored his fifth goal of the season, as well as his fourth against a non-conference opponent, to be the first Osprey to score in the NCAA Tournament.

UNF found its footing on offense in the second half with six shots to eventually lead the Mountaineers in the game in total shots, 10-9. Late pushes in the final minutes were not enough in the 2-1 loss on the road in the elements of West Virginia.

GOALS

27' | Sergio Ors Navarro (Felix Ewald) - WVU
79' | Marcus Caldeira (Isaac Scheer) - WVU
86' | Jaxon Reinhardt (Rentaro Miyakawa) - UNF

HOW IT HAPPENED

Rentaro Miyakawa and Jaylen Yearwood took two early shots against WVU, but was off target within the first five minutes.
After a cold stretch of 10 minutes, Luciano Natoli made a fantastic save in the 14th minute to keep things scoreless.
After another shot from the Ospreys by Joaquin Acuna, the Mountaineers broke through with a goal in the 27th minute.
UNF tried to take advantage with its first shot on goal from Miyakawa after a wave of WVU substitutions came in, but it was saved by the keeper in the bottom left.
Going into the break, the Ospreys regroup and attacked early again with David Perez getting a shot off, but wide right.
More shots were attempted by UNF with Miyakawa going back-to-back in the 73rd minute to try and equalize the score.
WVU added another goal in the 79th minute to double its lead, as the Ospreys were searching for an answer late in the match.
UNF found that answer from Reinhardt in the 86th minute with a late score that put them within one goal.
The Ospreys fought until the very end to find that extra goal to force overtime, but time expired with a 2-1 result going in favor of WVU.

RECORDS

North Florida | 7-8-4
West Virginia | 13-1-7

QUICK KICKS

The Ospreys made their second NCAA Championship tournament appearance in program history.
Reinhardt scored the first NCAA Tournament goal for the Ospreys in program history as well.
The score in the 86th minute gave UNF its 12th consecutive game with a goal to end the 2024 season.
Miyakawa picked up his ninth assist of the year to be the D-I leader in assists in a season.
UNF finished the match outshooting the Mountaineers, 10-9, while finishing with three saves each.
Seven of the 11 starters played the full 90 minutes, with only four substitutes entering the match.
Joaquin Acuna finishes his career with the second-most points (46) and the second-most goals scored (21) in D-I program history.

COACH'S THOUGHTS

"I could not be prouder of this group! Tonight, we showed we are good enough to play on a national level. The result didn't go our way and there and some things we can do at a higher level, but sometimes you have to have these experiences in the tournament to be able to lean on this experience in later years. This group had an incredible year winning two of the three trophies we set out to achieve, and most importantly, we brought the university together in a way that made people proud to be a UNF student. We will head back to sunny Florida with pride knowing that we are building something special here at UNF. Thank you to Osprey Nation for all your support and we cannot wait to be back next year!"
-- head coach Jamie Davies