#5 Tampa Drops Barry To Open Conference Play

TAMPA, Fla. - In its first conference matchup of the season, the No. 5 University of Tampa men's soccer team took down Sunshine State Conference opponent Barry University by a final score of 2-1 on Saturday night. The win brings undefeated Tampa's record to 5-0-1, 1-0 in the SSC, while Barry drops to 3-3-1, 1-2 in the SSC, on the season.

Despite outshooting the Buccaneers 10-5 in the first half, it took nearly 44 minutes for the Spartans to break the 0-0 tie. Freshman Brian Fekete put a long range shot past Buccaneer goalkeeper Johnny Rodriguez to make the score 1-0. The unassisted goal was Fekete's first as a Spartan.

At the 63:26 minute mark, National Player of the Year candidate Pascal Milien took a distribution from goalkeeper Ryan Thompson past Rodriguez to extend the Spartans' lead to 2-0. The goal would eventually stand as the game-winner, as Andres Perez put one past Thompson in the 85th minute to end Thompson's bid for his second shutout of the year. Thompson finished the match with four saves, while Rodriguez stopped seven shots for Barry.

The contest featured 18 fouls and four yellow cards. Tampa Head Coach Adrian Bush said following the game, "I'm proud of our players for maintaining their composure."

Bush continued, "It was their discipline that ended up winning them the game."

Tampa will play their second straight home game next Saturday against another SSC opponenent, No. 2 Lynn University at 7 p.m. UT will offer live stats and webcast through www.tampaspartans.com. Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers eScores, which is a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events.