Spartans Fall in Regular Season Finale to Mavericks

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks used suffocating defense, as they defeated the University of Tampa Spartans 14-6 Friday night at Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex. The victory drops Tampa to 15-3, while Colorado Mesa improves to 9-3.

The Mavericks jumped out early on the Spartans, as they scored the first three goals of the game and held a 3-0 lead after the first quarter of play. Tampa finally got on the board after the scoreless first, on a goal by senior M.J. Lorenzo. The two teams alternated goals the rest of the half, as CMU held a 6-3 lead going into the half.

In the second half, Colorado Mesa notched the first to goals to gain an 8-3 advantage. Tampa would respond with back to back goals of their own from Sean Giampietro and Mike Morris. After three quarters of play the Mavericks held a four goal advantage at 9-5. The fourth quarter is where CMU put the nail in the coffin, as they scored five goals on the UT defense.

Conor Whipple led the way for Tampa, as the sophomore attacker netted three goals and assisted on one goal. Morris, Giampietro, and Lorenzo each added goals for the home team.

The Maverick defense was key in the victory as they held Tampa to 31 shots, while they posted 51. Each team was able to cause 14 turnovers, while CMU held UT to 0-3 on extra man opportunities.

Friday night also marked senior night for 10 seniors on the Tampa Roster. Michael Asher, Bobby Calhoun,Trevor Calleja, Nick Ferreiro, Jonathan Franzese, Zak Goldbach, A.J. Leary, M.J. Lorenzo, Jon McGowan, Joe Oberto, Chance Smith and Douglas Weisbecker were each honored before the game for their contribution to the Tampa program.

Tampa will now await its fate for the NCAA tournament, as the selection show will be on Sunday night.

Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans), Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans), YouTube (youtube.com/utathletics) andInstragram (tampaspartans). UT also offers blast, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com