Double the Fun: Spartans Repeat as DSC Champions

TAMPA, Fla - For the second time in two years the University of Tampa men's lacrosse program has won the Deep South Conference regular-season championship with a 10-6 win over Rollins, Friday night in the inaugural game at Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex. With the win Tampa improves to 9-4 overall and 6-1 in the DSC, while Rollins falls to 3-10 overall and 2-5 in conference play.

Tampa got on the board first as Andrew Smith found Brian Patton for a goal, three minutes into the game. After a Tars goal, Joey McMahan connected with Kyle Hemrick for a goal to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead after the first quarter.

Six minutes into the second quarter, Austin Ricci scored a man up goal to tie the game 6-6. After the two teams traded goals, Riley Piper forced a Tars turnover, picked up the ground ball, and found McMahan for the goal to give Tampa the 3-2 advantage at the break.

Rollins scored two goals in a 30 second span to take a 5-4 lead with 8:21 left in the third quarter. The Spartans responded scoring three unanswered goals before the end of the period. At the 5:15 mark, Greg Griffo found McMahan, who put a shot past the goalie for the equalizer. Trevor Calleja won the ensuing faceoff and on the next Spartans possession Ryan Becker found Griffo for the goal to give Tampa a 6-5 lead. The score remained 6-5 until the final seconds of the third quarter as Hemrick picked up a ground ball and fired a shot into the back of the cage.

The offensive momentum continued for Tampa in the fourth quarter as the Spartans outscored the Tars 3-1. McMahan and Griffo scored back-to-back goals to extend Tampa's lead to 9-5 with 5:01 remaining. On the Spartans next possession James McAuliffe found Hemrick in front of the cage, who made a behind-the-back shot for the goal. Patrick Carney netted a goal for Rollins for the 10-6 final.

Hemrick and McMahan each netted a hat trick, while Griffo tallied two goals and an assist. Eric Dance led the Spartans with five ground balls. Joseph Fiorucci made nine saves in the win and improved his record to 8-4 this season.

Prior to the start of the game Tampa honored their eight seniors: Kevin Castle, Dance, A.J. DeSimone, Fiorucci, Griffo, Hemrick, McAuliffe and Bobby Silvestri.

The Spartans will return to action next week in the DSC Tournament. Stay tuned to tampaspartans.com for dates and times of games.

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