Eckerd Steals Battle of the Bay From No.23 UT 3-1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.  - The No. 23 ranked University of Tampa men's soccer team dropped a 3-1 match against the Eckerd College Tritons on Tuesday night for their second loss in a row. Lewis Sugden scored the lone goal for the Spartans in the 78th minute as the team fought to come back in the match.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Tampa 1 Eckerd 3
Records: Tampa (6-2-2, 2-2-1 SSC), Eckerd (6-2-2, 2-2-1 SSC)
Location: Turley Athletic Complex | St. Petersburg, Fla.
All-time Series: Tampa now leads the all-time series 33-8-0 with Eckerd. The Spartans won the matchup last season by the same score as Eckerd did tonight, 3-1.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1st Half | The first half belonged to the home side as they dictated the pace of the game and pressured Tampa for most of the half. The Tritons outshot the Spartans 16-3 overall and made their two shots on goal count as Robert Labus scored 10 minutes into the match and Moritz Hannemann added the second in the 30th minute of play. Tampa was not able to build upon their play and did not threaten the Triton keeper as their one shot on goal was easily stopped.

2nd Half | The Tritons extended their lead in the 51st minute as Michael Molata took advantage of a rebound to send the ball into the back of the net. After going down 3-0, UT tried to respond and had a couple of solid chances by Mike Ciluffo, Jake Winship, and Bay Downing but the shots were kept out by the Tritons keeper. With just under 20 minutes left in the game, Sugden took a free kick that hit the crossbar and went out as the team looked to break through and build on a much better second half. With just over 10 minutes to go in the game, Sugden was finally able to end the shutout as he was on the receiving end of an assist by Fredinho Mompremier to send the ball into the back of the net and cut the deficit to two goals. However, Eckerd was able to hold on to the final whistle and run out the clock to seal the win as Tampa could do no more damage. 

INSIDE THE STATS:
• Eckerd held the advantage in overall shots (26-16) but Tampa held the advantage in shots on goal (8-5).
• After having just three shots in the first half, the Spartans tallied 13 shots in the second half
• Sugden finished with a team-high four shots, with two being on goal, while Michael Cobuzio had three with two on goal.
• UT was without their second leading scorer Jason Collister for the second match in a row.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
• Eckerd flipped the script on Tampa after falling 3-1 last season against UT.
• The three-goal deficit was the largest this season and the three goals that were given up matches the most in a game by Tampa this season.
• Sugden scored his fifth goal of the season and now trails Collister by just one for second on the team.
• Mompremier now has three assists this season, tied for second on the team with Downing.

UP NEXT:
Tampa will host Barry University on Friday at 7 p.m. for Homecoming and will have almost no rest as they host Auburn-Montgomery on Saturday night also at 7 p.m. UT will offer live stats and a broadcast for the matchups through TampaSpartans.com.

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