Saints Win By A Prayer
February 25, 2017

Saints Win By A Prayer

TAMPA, Fla. –  The University of Tampa Spartans had their rematch game from last year's NCAA semifinal game against the Limestone College Saints.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Limestone 12, Tampa 10
Records: Tampa (3-2), Limestone 3-0)
Location:  Naimoli Field, Tampa Fla.
All-time Series:  This is the eight match-up with Limestone leading 8-0
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

1st Period

  • Sam Watts won the first face-off to start the game for Tampa.
  • Matt Vetter followed his lead by firing the first goal of the game, getting an early lead over the Saints with on the clock.
  • The Saints offense brought in two goals to make it 2-1 over Tampa. 
  • Andrew Kew got his first goal of the game to tie the score to 2-2. 
  • A goal from All-American Conor Whipple, assisted by Bryan Wright took the lead for the Spartans making the score 3-2 with 5:31 on the clock. 

2nd Period

  • The first goal of the period came from Limestone to tie it to 3-3 at 11:05. 
  • 30 seconds later, Wright made it 4-3.
  • Two more goals from the Saints gave them the lead 4-5 with 7:00 remaining in the period.

3rd Period

  • Limestone tacked on two goals to give themselves a three-goal lead over Tampa. 4-7.
  • Tampa decreases their lead to 5-7 with a goal from Michael Lucchesi at 5:40.
  • A pair of goals from the Saints makes it 5-9.
  • Jake Mosher McGraw fired one for Tampa to make it 6-9 with 1:50 on the board.
  • Limestone rallied back to score a goal at 1:42, now leading 6-10.
  • McGraw fired again in the period to make it 7-10 with 39.7 left.

4th Period

  • Watts won the first face-off of the period.
  • Yet Limestone got the first goal to make it 7-11 with 9:56 on the board.
  • Kew gets his second goal of the game with 8:41 in the game.
  • The Saints answered with a goal of their own to make the score 8-12.
  • Another goal from Kew makes it 9-12.
  • Senior Chris Vetter was assisted by McGraw at 1:08 to make the score 10-12.

INSIDE THE STATS:

  • Kew had three goals
  • Wright had one goal and one assist.
  • McGraw had one goal and one assist. 
  • Lucchessi had his first goal of the season.
  • Watts went 14 for 26 on face-off wins and had two ground balls.
  • The Vetter brothers had a goal each.
  • Marty Heyn had six ground balls, two caused turnovers, and one assist.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

  • Head Coach Rory Whipple is approaching another career milestone as he now sits at 299 career wins. The all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division II history is in his sixth season at UT and now has 71 wins as a Spartan.

UP NEXT:

Tampa returns to action on Saturday, March 4th against Chestnut Hill College for a 7:00 p.m. start. Live stats will be available through TampaStats.com.

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