The Spartans Shut Out the Sharks

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Spartans narrowly held off the Sharks in a shutout win on Saturday night's conference match-up.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final Score: #23 Tampa 1, #13 Nova Southeastern 0

Record: Tampa (8-2-0, 5-1-0 SSC), Nova Southeastern (5-3-1, 2-3-0 SSC)

Location: Nova Soccer Complex || Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

All-Time Series: The Spartans lead the series against the Sharks 18-7. 

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HOW IT HAPPENED:

FIRST HALF: The Spartans were off to a hot start with a goal by Omar Thali just after three minutes of play. Following, each team put up quite the fight and shots were being rattled off on both ends of the pitch. Adam Forster had a total of 5 saves throughout the half and stopped a penalty kick. With no response from the Nova Sharks, the half ended with Tampa in the lead 1-0. 

SECOND HALF: UT entered the second half determined to hold its lead. Sean Quinn was given a yellow card and then Forster had another save (50"). No shots on goal were taken for a majority of the half and NSU's attempt grew frustrated; a red card was administered to a Shark midfielder (84"). In a last-minute attempt to tie the game, Nova was denied a goal with one more save by Forster (89"). The final score was 1-0. 

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Forster had a total of 7 saves for the game, a new career-high; he is at 24 saves for the season. 

• Thali has a total of 20 points for the season, 5 more than the 2019-2020 season. 

• Four Spartans played the entirety of the match: Agustin Baroffio, Nico Gamio, Juancho Fernandez, Cody Wells, 

UP NEXT: The Spartan Men will return to Pepin Stadium to host their Alumni Night and compete against the Lynn University Fighting Knights on Saturday, October 16th at 6 p.m.

GAMEDAY MULTIMEDIA: Fans may watch all home games and Sunshine State Conference contests on TampaSpartans.tv. Live stats are also available through TampaStats.com.

Text Alerts: UT also offers a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.