#4 Tampa Knocks Off #1 Lynn in Double Overtime Thriller

TAMPA, Fla. - In Saturday night's double overtime match, the No. 4 University of Tampa (6-0-1, 2-0 SSC) men's soccer team took down top-ranked Lynn University (10-1, 2-1 SSC) by a final score of 2-1. With the Spartans trailing 1-0 with just minutes remaining, sophomore Ryan Griffin tied the match before National Player of the Year candidate Pascal Milien took a pass from Greg O'Connor to score the game-winning goal with 2:42 left on the clock in the second overtime to defeat the nation's number one team.

After the country's leading goal scorer, Lynn's Paulo Vaz, was issued a red card in the 38th minute, the game remained scoreless through the first half. With just over twelve minutes to go in regulation, the Fighting Knights' Scott Gordon broke the 0-0 tie when he put the ball past Tampa's goalkeeper Ryan Thompson.

With the end of the contest drawing near, UT's Dan Ingvarsson sent a cross near the Lynn goal that the Tampa native Griffin shot past Alessandro Salvatore to knot the game at one and send it to overtime.

"I hope people are taking notice of what he does game in and game out. He's not the guy with all the flash, but he's a rock in the middle along with Karl Swan," Tampa head coach Adrian Bush said of Griffin's strong effort.

After a scoreless first ten minutes of OT, Milien scored the sudden-victory goal at the 107:18 minute mark to close out the win for Tampa.

"You've got to give Lynn a lot of credit. That was probably one of the best jobs I've seen playing down a man. They played their hearts out-both teams," Bush said.

"It's unfortunate that people will say the red card made the match, but I'm sure we'll see them again. It's a big win for the program. I'm happy for the university, for our fans, and for our players, but we understand that this does not make our season. We're now getting ready for Palm Beach Atlantic on Tuesday."

Thompson finished the match with four saves, while Salvatore ended the contest with nine.
"I believe we saw two of the top goalkeepers in the nation on the field tonight," Bush said.

This is the third straight year that Tampa has defeated a No. 1 Lynn team, including a 3-2 victory in last season's NCAA South Regional final. Bush and the Spartans have now beaten Lynn 5 of the last 7 times they have played. While the Fighting Knights have just six losses in the last three seasons, five have come at the hands of UT.

Tampa will next head to West Palm Beach on Tuesday to take on PBA on the road. UT will offer live stats 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.