Tampa Suffers 3-0 Loss To Florida Southern

Team Stats

October 9, 2009

Box score

TAMPA, Fla.-The University of Tampa (5-7-1, 1-2 SSC) women's soccer team fell to Florida Southern College (8-5, 4-1 SSC) in a Sunshine State Conference match-up. FSC scored three goals in the first half to secure the win for the Moccasins.

The Moccasins took an early lead when Morgan Sammons shot a high ball just out of the reach of Tampa keeper Kendall Bourdon. FSC struck again when Princess Haley placed a perfect ball off a free kick to meet Kerri-Ann Brown inside the box. Brown shot a hard ball into the bottom left corner to put the Mocs up 2-0. Sammons scored the final goal of the half when she beat Tampa's backline of defense to score an unassisted goal.

The game saw a scoreless second half as the Spartans' defense allowed no shots on goal. Brittan Spence and Dana Palmiotto each recorded a shot on goal for Tampa.

A bright spot for Tampa was the fact that it outshot the Mocs by a 13-8 mark while carrying a 10-4 advantage in corner kicks.

"Tonight was a hugely disappointing night, says head coach Gerry Lucey. "We absolutely threw the game away inside 22 minutes. We have been awful at times defensively this season and this proved once again to be our downfall. We handed FSC three goals inside 22 minutes because of terrible defensive mistakes. Despite outshooting yet another opponent we have lost this game through lack of focus and attention from the first whistle. In our two conference loses this season we have outshot our opponents 30-15 and yet come out giving up six goals. Even though we are young it's no excuse for pitiful attempts to defend. I believe in this group deeply and hope that they realize their potential quickly. We still have a lot to fight for in the next few weeks."

Tampa heads to St. Petersburg for an SSC meeting with Eckerd on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Fans may follow the game via live stats through www.tampaspartans.com. 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.