#9 Rollins Hands #2 Tampa First Loss

WINTER PARK, Fla. - The Friday night Sunshine State Conference showdown between the No. 2 University of Tampa men's soccer team and No. 9 Rollins College resulted in the Spartans' first loss of the 2009 season, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Tars. Tampa drops to 10-1-1 on the season, 4-1 in SSC play, while Rollins remains unbeaten at 14-0-1 and 6-0 in conference action.

While the Spartans dominated much of the first 20 minutes of the game, the Tars broke up the game in the 38th minute with a goal from Jacob Deloach. With just over two minutes to go in the half, J.D. Gruenwald put one past Tampa goalkeeper Ryan Thompson to make the score 2-0. It was the first time this season that the Spartans have given up more than one goal in a contest.

In the 54th minute, Jack Clifford pushed the lead to 3-0 for Rollins when he headed the ball off a corner from Deloach. Tampa responded moments later, however, when Dan Ingvarsson took a free kick just outside the box straight into the back of the net to pull the Spartans to within two.

The Spartans made a final push with just minutes remaining, when Mike Bethel fed a pass to Greg O'Connor who put it past Rollins' Aaron Rokeach to cut the deficit to 3-2. It was O'Connor's first career goal as a Spartan.

Following the game, head coach Adrian Bush said, "In the end, this is a loss. I'm extremely proud of how our guys responded under some difficult circumstances going down 3-0. Rollins is a good team, very well coached and if we do our part, we will hopefully meet them again."

Rokeach finished the contest with six saves while Thompson finished with seven. The Tars outshot Tampa 16-12 on the evening.

"The true identity of our character will be reflected on how we respond Wednesday night at Nova."

The Spartans return to action Wednesday when they travel to Fort Lauderdale to take on SSC foe Nova Southeastern in a conference matchup. 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.