Four Sunshine State Conference titles were claimed this weekend by the University of Tampa, one of which was won by the men’s soccer team, who participated in its fourth straight SSC championship game.
Beginning a season in which the Spartans had lost eight starters, three All-Americans and five All-South Region players from last year, the UT men were not expected to accomplish great things.
However, Coach Adrian Bush mentioned the surprise competition the Spartan squad has given opponents this season, despite the loss of so many key players.
“People doubted us from day one and they had every right to. There was not a team in college soccer, Division I or II, that lost what we did last year. We believe in our system and trusted the players in place,” he said.
That system has proven itself successful. The path to the championship started Nov. 2, when the team faced and defeated Nova Southeastern University in the SSC Quarterfinals.
From there, UT traveled to Miami Shores on Nov. 5 to play the match against Barry University that would ultimately lead the team to the SSC Finals.
The Spartans attacked first. At the 53 minute mark, Tampa’s Dominic Goncalves shot a hard 40 yard free kick, which remained untouched from foot to goal. The Spartans led the match 1-0.
The game remained silent until there were three minutes left to go. Kemal Malcolm fed the ball to Kevin Knowles, who fired the ball in the net for his first goal of the season. UT had just extended their lead to 2-0 with little time remaining.
Shutout hopes ended, though, when Barry rushed toward UT’s net and scored its lone goal of the match with 45 seconds remaining.
The final score of the well-fought match was 2-1 in the Spartans’ favor, and Tampa was headed to the final game of the SSC Tournament.
On Nov. 7, Tampa and Florida Tech walked onto the field to decide who was worthy of the prized conference championship, something Tampa has certainly become used to.
UT’s nerves spiked when, 26 minutes into the match, Florida Tech put one past goalkeeper David Niepel to make the score 1-0.
That fear did not last very long, though. UT’s Dominic Goncalves responded four minutes later with a solid shot 22 yards out finding its way into the upper corner of the net.
Ryan Griffin collected the assist on the goal. Spartans had tied the game 1-1.
While no team managed to score in the remaining 58 minutes of regulation time, the Florida Tech men were not discrete in showing their frustration and received two yellow cards.
When regulation time ended, the match remained even at 1-1 and both teams were headed to overtime.
In the first OT, the scoreboard stayed dormant; the second OT was a different story.
With little time to go in the second OT, the chance of going to penalty kicks was approaching, but the Tampa men would not let this be an option.
While Florida Tech displayed disappointment and angst, the Spartans celebrated in complete euphoria after a ball off the foot of Matt Davies made its way into the Florida Tech net.
The UT men soccer team had won the game and the most honored Sunshine State Conference Title. Goncalves, who scored two of Tampa’s four goals last weekend, received the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.
Davies, Griffin, Lister Warren and Jordan Moses were named as a part of the all-tournament team.
Coach Bush relayed his satisfaction about the last two wins.
“We are very pleased with the results this past weekend and understand there is a much greater goal for our program,” Bush said. “It starts with a conference championship. Now our eyes are set on our third consecutive South Region Championship.”
Goncalves commented on the future postseason games for UT.
“We’re all very optimistic about our chances in the national tournament,” Goncalves stated. “The coaches have been telling us since August that we’re good enough to win it and there’s a real belief within the squad that we can.”
Coach Bush added his thoughts on the upcoming games.
“Our preparation is second-to-none and if they execute, they have just as much a chance to be a national champion this year as any team in the country. We are five games away and take our first step up the ladder this Friday,” Coach Bush said. “We just hope to be competitive.”
Tampa will play in the South Regional Semifinal held at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. on Friday, Nov. 12. The Spartans will be pitted against Barry University, a team who will undeniably be looking for revenge.
Maya Todd can be reached at mtodd@spartans.ut.edu.