No. 11 Tampa Suffers First Loss of Season at Florida Southern

Box score

LAKELAND, Fla.-The No. 11 University of Tampa men's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season to Florida Southern University on Saturday night at Barnett Field. The Spartans now sit at 3-1-2 while the Moccasins hold a 2-3 overall record.

The first half ended without any scoring and was a hard fought defensive battle. Tampa outshot Florida Southern with five shots to three. The Spartans also received two yellow cards in the period on Yona Lobulu and Craig Laird. FSC committed seven team fouls in the half, compared to only four for UT.

Tampa's Kody Thomas received a red card just four minutes into the second half, putting the Spartans down a man for the remainder of the match. The Mocs capitalized in the next minute to take a 1-0 lead as Mitchell Francois netted a penalty kick past Spartan keeper David Niepel.

In the 72nd minute, Florida Southern added an insurance goal by Cory Mills. The score resulted from the rebound of a shot by Adam Hansjons that was saved by Niepel. Hansjons was credited with the assist to give the Mocs a 2-0 advantage.

With just under seven minutes to play, FSC tacked on another score by Jonathan Radvogin. Mills served a free kick into the box and was credited with the assist on the goal.

The Spartans continued to battle playing down a man in the second period and were unable to capitalize on any scoring opportunities. Niepel started in goal for UT and netted three saves in the losing effort.

Overall Florida Southern outshot Tampa 14-11 and 6-5 in shots on goal. The Spartans held the advantage in corner kicks 11-4, while committing 11 fouls to the Mocs 18.

Alex Knaggs, Andrew Clare, and Tyler Blackwood each chipped in two shots, each with one on goal for the Spartans.

Tampa returns to action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to host Eckerd College at Pepin Stadium. Live stats and a webcast will be available through TampaSpartans.tv.

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