JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – The Jacksonville University men's soccer team hosted The University of North Florida on Friday night at Southern Oak Stadium in the first River City Rumble of the year. The Dolphins (4-3-2) fell to the Ospreys by a final score of 2-0 in a hard-fought physical battle.

"Giving up a goal early in the game changed the mood. We fought hard. It was not our best performance, but I think we still gave ourselves a good chance to be in the game," commented Head Coach Mauricio B. Ruiz

Sophomore goalkeeper Matt Levy recorded 6 saves in his ninth consecutive start. Prior to Tuesday nights matchup against Georgia Southern Levy sat ranked #1 in the ASUN for save percentages this season (.792) As a team, Jacksonville is 12th nationally in saves per game at 5.50 and 20th in the NCAA in save percentage at .815, which is first in the conference.

UNF got on the board early only 37 seconds into the game after a trio of shots. Robbie Sorronellas single handedly recorded the first goal of the night to put the Ospreys up 1-0 over JU.  

The first shot of the evening for Jacksonville came at the 14-minute mark as junior forward Jose Manzo shot the boll low. Quickly after senior forward Kai Bennett fired off a shot that just missed and resulted in two corner kick opportunities for the home team. Manzo came back in the 36^th minute and made the attempt to tie the gym but his shot fell into the hands of the UNF keeper. Freshman midfielder Jake Duncan-Smith closed out the first half with one final shot on goal at 42:48. Ducan-Smith took a header off of the feed from senior midfielder/defender Redondo Beauplan but the ball failed to cross the line. After the first 45 minutes of play UNF held the lead over JU .

Jacksonville entered the second half with a fire lit beneath them and began firing shots at the UNF keeper. In less than three minutes the Dolphins recorded three shots on goal. Duncan-Smith returned while senior and sophomore forwards Jesus Colombo and Inti Antunez each tallied one.

In the 60^th minute Robbie Soronellas found the net again to give UNF a 2-0 lead.

Junior midfielder Connar Lufkin recorded back-to-back shots in the 67^th minute after a UNF shot saved by Levy brought the ball back down the field. Lufkin, who serves as captain of the JU squad has scored three goals on the year which is tied for third in the league. In the 83^rd minute junior midfielder Steven Saunders shot the ball low as the result over a corner kick. Colombo recorded his second shot of the night in the 85^th minute with a powerful ball that went wide. The capitalizing moment of the night came with only less than three minutes remaining when Colombo landed the ball in the back of the net with help from Manzo. The goal was quickly waved off as offsides for JU. Colombo is recognized as the Hodges Mazda Player Of The Game. Jacksonville recorded a total of 11 shots on the night.

 "We have got urgency. We have got to win our next conference games. Our job is to get focused and make sure that we are scoring goals," Ruiz concluded.
The Dolphins will see action next when they travel to Fort Meyers to go up against FGCU at 7p.m.