Tampa Edges Lenoir-Rhyne in a Close Conference Matchup

TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa defeats Lenoir-Rhyne University by a score of 11-10. Tampa stays perfect in Deep South Conference play at 6-0, and goes to 9-3 overall. Lenoir-Rhyne drops to 0-6 in the conference and 2-9 overall.

Tampa celebrated senior night tonight at Pepin Stadium, as Jeff Clements, Greg Khanzadian and Frank Lorono will graduate at the end of the season.

It took almost seven minutes before anyone scored, but at the 8:06 mark in the first Ryan Becker netted his first of two goals on the night. Senior Jeff Clements recorded his fifth assist of the season on the play.

After Lenoir-Rhyne tied up the game, Tampa would score the next two. Clements scored at the 6:33 mark assisted by Jonathan Franzese. For Clements it was his ninth of the year.

Greg Griffo would score the third goal for the Spartans with less than 30 seconds left in the first, giving UT a 3-1 lead.

Edward Guerin cut into the Spartan lead less than a minute into the second quarter. However, A.J. DeSimone scored at the 12:31 mark to put Tampa back up by two.

The Bears were 3-9 on man-up opportunities, with Connor Squires scoring the first one.

Tampa would go on to score three more goals to take a 7-3 going into the half. Kevin Castle, Griffo and Becker each scored. Becker's goal came with just two seconds left in the second period.

Freshman M.J. Lorenzo scored 48 seconds into the second half extending the Spartan lead to five goals.

Lenoir-Rhyne scored another man-up goal when Tyler Kotch netted his eight goal of the season. Miles Britton had the assist.

The lone Tampa man-up goal came from the team's leading scorer DeSimone, who recorded his 22nd of the season. Griffo picked up his 14th assist of the season on the play.

With two more goals by the Bears before the end of the third, the score going into the fourth quarter was 9-6 Spartans.

Tampa was outscored 4-2 in the final period and outshot 12-4. However, those two goals would prove to be critical as UT won by one goal. Franzese scored his 15th of the season, as James McAuliffe scored the game winner with 5:41 left in the game.

Griffo finished the game with two goals and an assist, as goaltender Joseph Fiorucci made 10 saves in the victory.

Michael Asher had a game high of six groundballs and Doug Weisbecker had a game high of two caused turnovers.

With the win tonight, Tampa has been guaranteed a spot in the Deep South Conference semifinals, where they will host Florida Southern, Saint Leo or Rollins.

Tampa plays the Massachusetts Institute of Technology next on Sunday at 7 p.m. at home. Live stats will be available through TampaSpartans.com.

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