Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ moved up one spot in the TopDrawerSoccer.com rankings. The Knights spent all of 2011 in the top 25 nationally and concluded the season by advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the second-straight season.

Head coach squad will make its home debut Saturday, hosting 13th-ranked Old Dominion at 7 p.m. at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Soccer Complex.

Behind a pair of goals from Deshorn Brown, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ men’s soccer team opened the campaign in fine fashion Friday at FAU Soccer Stadium. Brown notched the game-winner in the 59th minute.

The Knights won their third-straight season opener. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ finished with a 13-8 shot advantage, and had seven shots on goal.

The game-winning tally from Brown, a junior transfer from the University of Mobile who was making his Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ regular-season debut, was a bullet to the top left that beat FAU (0-1) goalkeeper Jeremy Crumpton. Brown’s first goal, and the Knights’ first score of the season, came in the 51st minute when the forward took a cross from Omar Vallejo in the box and beat Crumpton in the lower left corner.

The Owls tied the contest seven minutes later when Roberto Rivera scored. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ answered right back as Brown gave the Knights the lead less than two minutes later.

“Our players were ready to go from the start and we really controlled the entire game,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “That is hard to do on the road. I am proud of our attitude. After their goal, we battled right back. That is a credit to our senior leadership and the mentality of the team. It is great to start the season with a good road win.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s Sebastian Evers recorded three saves in the victory. The contest featured a 30-minute delay in the first half due to lightning.

Robson netted the game-winning goal at the 70-minute mark. Senior Spencer Scott (Palm City, Fla.) set up the score with a cross that was handled inside the box by freshman Matthew Gaskins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) before a spinning Robson shot across his body past Tulsa (5-10-0, 1-5-0) goalkeeper Michael Murray.

Robson, who now has six goals on the year, tied the match in the 65th minute when he scored on a free kick from 20 yards out.

The win over Tulsa was the first in nine tries for the Knights, who improved to 5-1 at home in 2011 with the victory. The Golden Hurricane grabbed a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the match when a Tulsa header bounced off a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ defender and was controlled by Quinn Starker, who fired a shot above Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sebastian Evers (Miami, Fla).

“We knew that this was going to be a tough match,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “You can throw their record out. They are one of the best teams in the league. We knew it was going to be a battle. The players were up for it. Going down a goal early never helps, but give our players a lot of credit. We were able to battle back and come out of here with a nice win.”

The Golden Hurricane threatened to tie the match late, but the Knights clamped down defensively. With just over a minute to play, Murray left his usual position and fired off shot on goal. Evers, who was making his collegiate debut, made a diving save to knock away the surprising shot from his counterpart.

The contest was the first at home for the Knights since Sept. 28. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ was slated to host South Carolina on Oct. 8, but the match was postponed due to heavy rains.

“People were saying, `you guys never play.’ We have not been home in a while, it is nice to be back,” Robson said. “(Conference games) are always tough. The last few minutes are always going to be a battle like that. We have learned our lessons from games where we have let a goal in the last minute, this year and last year. But we don’t do that anymore.”

The physical contest featured 32 total fouls and four yellow cards.

Evers totaled six saves in the winning effort. Tulsa recorded 11 shots, while the Knights had nine shots, with seven coming after halftime.