The No. 9 nationally ranked Spartans showed their persistence last weekend versus Saint Leo when they came back from a deficit.
On Sept. 24, the men’s soccer team traveled to Saint Leo University to face the Lions in a difficult conference game. The game was the Spartans first Sunshine State Conference matchup of the season.
The Spartans had not won at Saint Leo since 2002. Saint Leo is also the only place in the SSC that Head Coach Adrian Bush had not won at since the beginning of his coaching career at UT.
Saint Leo put one past goalkeeper David Niepel to gain the early lead twenty minutes into the game. Both teams remained silent for the remainder of the first half.
Senior Clete Goddard observed the feeling of the team at the start of the game.
“Against Saint Leo, we came out slow and found ourselves in a hole going into the second half,” Goddard said.
Nine minutes into the second half, the spirit came back to the UT squad. Sophomore defender Brian Fekete fed the ball to sophomore forward Kemal Malcolm, who shot into the left corner of the net, tying the game at 1-1.
The scoring did not end there.
“Once we found our rhythm, we dominated the game and had the majority of the chances,” Goddard said.
With less than six minutes left in the game, the anticipation was rising.
Junior forward Gregory Sasser answered the call when he netted the Spartans second goal of the game. Senior Karl Swan collected the assist. UT was up 2-1 on the Lions.
When the clock ran out, the scoreboard showed a Spartans’ victory. After falling behind fairly quickly into the game, UT came back to score two unanswered goals and return to Tampa with its first conference win.
Tampa’s record improved to 6-2 on the year and 1-0 in conference play.
“With hard work and character our team came back and overcame a tough conference opponent,” Goddard said of the comeback win.
Head coach Adrian Bush also was pleased with the team’s perseverance.
“Credit is to the players; they played to the system and it truly was a team effort. In looking at the full game, I felt they deserved the win,” Coach Bush said.
A game against conference opponent Eckerd College on Sept. 28 resulted in a 2-1 loss for UT, dropping their season record to 6-3. They also fell in terms of their conference record to 1-1.
The game had no score going into the half, but the Tritons came out in the second half with back-to-back goals in the 55th and 58th minutes.
Though Tampa outshot Eckerd by a total of 15-14, the Spartans only put two shots on goal for the entire game.
Lister Warren scored the lone goal for the Spartans, assisted by junior defender Matt Karn.
Coach Bush explains the feeling of the squad at this point in the season.
“We know we have talent, but talent must play with discipline, talent must play in a system, talent must work hard – more importantly talent must work together.” Coach Bush continued to mention further, “It’s an identity that all the great UT men’s soccer teams of the past dating back to the early 1980s have had; it’s the identity we are striving for.”
On Oct. 2 and Oct. 6, the Spartans will be facing two more Sunshine State Conference teams, giving them two more chances to improve their conference record. The Spartans will be traveling to Barry University in Miami Shores.
Four days later the squad will be returning home to face Nova Southeastern University on its own turf, Pepin Stadium.
The last time these teams met were under high-tension conditions. Tampa defeated Nova Southeastern last year in the SSC Tournament Semifinal 3-0 only to be shut-out by Barry in the SSC Tournament Final two days after.
These are two events that should be leading up to a pair of vengeful matches.
Maya Todd can be reached at mtodd@spartans.ut.edu.