SARASOTA, Fla. (Sept. 11, 2025) — Florida National (2-1-2) lost a close battle against The Sun Conference's New College of Florida Mighty Banyans (3-0-1) early Thursday afternoon. The Conquistadors fell behind in the closing 10 minutes of the match after a converted penalty kick from the Banyans ushered in FNU's first loss of the 2025 season 3-2.

The last time FNU and NCF shared the pitch, the Conquistadors were defeated 2-1 on the field of the Premier Sports Campus in September 2024. Filipe Sette Ribeiro was responsible for FNU's lone score that evening, and FNU looked to get back in the win column this go around on the NCF Bayfront Field. 

The Conquistadors had a less-than-ideal start, trailing 1-0 after NCF's Pablo Herrera used a pass from Joao Duarte for the first goal of the afternoon in the 25th minute. This Banyan lead was short-lived after Fabio Zandona Tajra laced a pinpoint ball to Diego Alejandro Zogbi Tirado for Zogbi's first goal of 2025. The Banyans had a chance to take the lead in the 36th after drawing a penalty but saw Sebastian Pedraza's strike miss wide well past the crossbar. 

At the end of the half, FNU totaled eight shots and NCF went into the break with six. NCF had three corner kicks and Florida National forced five Juan Pugin corners.

To start the second period, Jeronimo Aquino was aggressive with two early shot attempts that went high or were blocked by an NCF defender. Aquino's pressure on NCF's backline opened the door in the 53rd minute for Pugin to deliver a signature pass in the midfield to newcomer Jace Spence to put FNU up 2-1. 

Unfortunately, the Conquistadors allowed Ducamel Jeannestin to connect on his sixth goal of the season six minutes later thanks to an assist from Sebastian Pedraza. Within the final ten minutes of play, FNU committed a costly foul in the penalty area. This set up a 1v1 opportunity with NCF's Cameron Johnson converting the game winner against goalkeeper Vitor Caetano Pedrosa.

NCF continued to be aggressive after their penalty conversion, using the clock to their advantage. Aquino had FNU's best chance of an equalizer in the 83rd minute, which sailed wide and NCF's Juan Palomino was sent off in the closing minute after picking up a red card near the Banyan's side of midfield.

FNU ended the match with 14 shots, trailing NCF's shot total by five. Caetano finished his first loss of 2025 with three saves, and NCF's Mathis Leveque also had three saves.

Up Next: FNU is in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sept. 17 for an early afternoon match against Florida Memorial University.