Spartans Earn First Victory Of Campaign

MOBILE, Ala. -The University of Tampa men's soccer team started its season on the road at Spring Hill College Thursday night. The Spartans came out victorious 2-1 after two overtime periods and racking up over 109 minutes of play at Library Field.

Tampa controlled the tempo of the match but lacked execution as they outshot and outhustled Spring Hill. UT was awarded five corners and fired off eight shots in the first half, yet still went into the half trailing 0-1.

The second half began with a bang, as Troy Tucker put away a goal at the 46-minute mark to bring the Spartans level. Tampa would continue their up-tempo pace to create as many opportunities looking to notch the game winner and almost did on several occasions following several key corner kicks by Keith Francisco.

After the final whistle of regulation, both sides were still chomping at the bit to earn their first win of their 2015 campaign. Tucker stepped up for his team in a big way with his late game heroics driving home the game winner after a shot from Jason Collister rebounded off the post.

When asked about earning his first win of the season Coach Adrian Bush said, "anytime you can go on the road in this region and get a win it is a great result." Bush also went to say "Spring Hill played a great match and credit goes to their great staff and players".

On the team's performance and how to improve moving forward Bush said, " we saw some good things, as well as some areas that need to be cleaned up. The entire group showed fantastic character to overcome being down at the half on the road, we'll be looking to build on tonight's result".

The Spartans continue their road trip as they travel to Pensacola, Fla. to take on West Florida Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT live stats and video coverage will be available for fans.

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