Early Goals Propel Tampa to Victory in Last Regular Season Match

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The University of Tampa men's soccer team finishes the regular season with a dominate win on the road.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final Score: Tampa 4, Palm Beach Atlantic 2

Records: Tampa 8-5-2, 5-4-1, Palm Beach Atlantic 6-5-3, 5-4-1

Location: PBA Soccer Field | West Palm Beach, Fla.

All-time series: The Spartans lead the Sailfish 12-9-1 in the overall series.

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HOW IT HAPPENED:

FIRST HALF: The Spartans started the match off quickly, with Christian Fairchild crossing the ball to teammate Pablo Marques to open the scoring just 8 minutes into the match. Soon after, junior Tarek Ghamraoui netted his first goal as a Spartan off a pass from Rodrigo Lopes. The Tampa offense continued to apply pressure on the Palm Beach Atlantic, dominating ball possession in the attacking third. The Spartans' early goals proved to be enough to put them in the lead headed into halftime.

Score: 2-0 Tampa

SECOND HALF: The second half opened with Lopes recording a goal of his own with the help of teammate Cherif Tammar to extend the Tampa lead to three. Just 10 minutes later, the Sailfish recorded their first goal of the night. After continued pressure by the Spartan offense senior Zachary Welch scored his first career goal as a Spartan to seal the victory. Despite Palm Beach Atlantic scoring one more, the Spartans early dominance proved too much for the Sailfish to come back from.

Final: 4-2 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Alex Hare started in goal for the Spartans, recording 3 saves.
• Three Spartans played the full 90 minutes; Luca Bergmann, Gabriel Herrera, and  Tarek Ghamraoui.
• Rodrigo Lopes, Alexandre Badji, Leonard Bogeskär, and Zachary Welch each recorded 2 shots.
• Ghamraoui and Welch recorded their first career goals as Spartans.
• Tampa outshot Palm Beach Atlantic 12-7.

UP NEXT: The Spartans will return to action on Monday, time and place TBA.