Tampa Wins Program’s First NCAA South Regional

Tampa, Fla. - For the third consecutive season, the University of Tampa women's soccer team played in the NCAA South Region final, this time against number-nine West Florida. The number-five Spartans came away with a 2-0 victory over the Argonauts to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinal for the first time in school history.

The Spartans, who are now 17-2-1 on the season, set a new school record with their 17th victory, surpassing the previous mark of 16 from the 2003 season. Tampa also ran its homefield unbeaten streak to 34 consecutive matches, which also marks a school record.

The match remained scoreless heading into the half, though Tampa outshot its opponent 13-2 in the period, with West Florida keeping the game even with eight saves. UT took the game's first lead in the 78th minute on a goal by Shelby Kuni, which was her school record 25th of the season. Samantha Robinson was credited with the assist and broke the Sunshine State Conference single-season mark for assists with 17.

Freshman Jocelyn Charette gave the Spartans some added security with an unassisted goal at 82:32 to give UT a 2-0 lead with less than 13-minutes to go in the game. Tampa goalkeeper Shannon Aitken recorded her second shutout of the postseason and 10th on the season for Tampa, recording three saves on five shots faced.

The Spartans will now square off with winner of the Carson-Newman-Tusculum matchup in the NCAA Quarterfinal to be played on Saturday, November 11 in Tampa. The time of the match has yet to be announced, with the winner advancing to the Fall Championships on November 16-18 in Pensacola.