OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha Mavericks used the energy from a raucous home opening crowd to battle back three times and claim a 3-2 win at Caniglia Field over visiting Florida Atlantic. The Mavericks are 2-0 for the first time since 2017. The crowd of 1,103 was the fifth largest in Caniglia Field regular season history for men's soccer.

Senior Matthis Pilon St-Louis was one of several Mavericks who gave the team a spark off the bench; his unassisted goal in the 83rd minute lifted Omaha to the 3-2 win. The Mavericks rallied from 2-1 down in the closing ten minutes, as senior Theo Klein curved a free kick from 20 yards in front of Owls goalkeeper Nacho Alfaro to tie the game at 2-2 with just under ten minutes to play. 

"We just said, hey, 12:00 to play guys, there are gonna be fireworks at the end of the game, let's put on a show for everyone here," a sweat-drenched Pilon St-Louis said after the match. "And we won three two, and that's the beauty of the sport." 

Florida Atlantic, coming off a scoreless draw at Creighton on Thursday, scored the first goal of the night at 11:51 of the first half when Sebastian Zetti drilled a long shot just over the outstretched hands of leaping senior goalkeeper Nathanael Sallah. In the 33rd minute, Omaha's Theo Klein added to his career school record for penalty kick goals (8) when he drilled it home at 32:08.

Zetti scored an unassisted goal 24 minutes into the second half to put FAU up 2-1. There were three lead changes in the match, which was the first meeting between the two schools in men's soccer.

After their season-opening win on the road Thursday, Omaha starts the year 2-0 for the first time since 2017. That season they claimed the Summit League title and earned an NCAA bid. The Mavericks continue their three game home stand Thursday against San Francisco at 6 p.m. at Caniglia Field. 

"Our milestone tonight was 'make your home a fortress,'" Omaha head coach Donovan Dowling said. "You could feel it from the crowd, that helped will us back into the game and make that comeback. It's a lot of fun playing in front of these fans."

The 1,103 fans in attendance were not daunted by the heat. The match started one hour later than planned because of the high temperatures. It was 98 degrees in Omaha at kickoff. Following the match, a convocation was held, welcoming the student-athletes back to campus. A fireworks show closed out the night.
 

Inside the Box 

• The Mavericks used their depth to weather the heat, with 18 players playing significant minutes. For the second straight game, seniors Martin Lago, Thore Boehm and Nathanael Sallah played all 90 minutes. 
• Dowling's Mavericks are 2-0 to start the season for the first time in his coaching career.
• The crowd of 1,103 fans, which included 717 students. The total is the 5th largest regular season crowd in Caniglia Field men's soccer history.
• Omaha had 10 of the 22 fouls in what was a largely clean match. 
• The Mavericks outshot the Owls 10-4 in the second half and 17-12 for the match. 
• After representing the Summit League in last year's NCAA tournament, Omaha was selected to finish second in a pre-season poll of coaches, the highest in Dowling's tenure. 

Up Next 
The home stand continues with Caniglia Field matches Thursday night at 6 p.m. against San Francsisco and Sunday afternoon against Loyola Chicago at 1 p.m.