#9 Spartans Capture Share Of Regular Season Conference Title With Victory

TAMPA, Fla. - Lister Warren's hat trick vaulted the ninth-ranked University of Tampa men's soccer team past Sunshine State Conference foe Saint Leo University on Senior Night in front of over 900 fans. The 5-1 victory gave the Spartans a share of the SSC regular season championship crown and improved their overall record to 14-1-1, 6-1 in conference play. The Lions drop to 6-8 overall and 2-6 in the SSC.

Warren's first goal came in the 20th minute when he took a shot from inside the box to put Tampa up 1-0 going into the half and came off assists from Greg O'Connor and National Player of the Year candidate Pascal Milien.

It was in the second half, however, that the Spartans broke the game open. Tampa outshot Saint Leo 30-10 in the game, with 13 shots off the foot of Milien. The senior also generated seven quality shots on goal, robbed each time by Lions goalkeeper Eric Mozzo.

In the 49th minute, sophomore Karl Swan put a low shot past Mozzo to put UT up 2-0 for his first goal of the season. Just under seven minutes later, Warren scored his second of the night with assists coming from O'Connor and freshman Brian Fekete.

Within a five minute span, Tampa tallied two more goals including Warren's third, which completing his hat trick. Senior Zach Fraser collected his first assist of the year on the goal. O'Connor scored at the 60:16 mark when he took a pass from Milien from across the field into the back of the net to conclude the Spartan scoring.

Saint Leo finally broke through in the 84th minute when Jonathan Glenn beat the Tampa defense to bring the score to 5-1, but it wouldn't be enough to overtake the Spartans.

Mozzo finished the contest with 13 saves for Saint Leo while senior Ryan Thompson finished with four in the game, stopping each of the shots he faced.

The Spartans will host the Sunshine State Conference tournament next weekend and will play in the seminfinal match on Friday, November 6. Fans can access a live webcast through www.tampaspartans.com where live stats will be available. UT also offers eScores, which is a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook.