 #10 Spartans Oust Lynn In Regional Semifinal
3-1
 WINTER PARK,
Fla. – In a physical NCAA South Regional semifinal matchup, the No.
10 University of Tampa men’s soccer team took down No. 18 Lynn University
3-1 to push the Spartans (16-2-1) into the regional final on Sunday
afternoon. It is the third time in three years that Tampa has turned away
the Fighting Knights (14-4-1) in postseason play and is the sixth time in
the teams' last eight meetings that the Spartans have come out on top.
Tampa got on the board first in the eighth minute when leading goal
scorer Pascal
Milien took a shot unassisted past Lynn’s Alessandro Salvatore. Just
over 10 minutes later, the Fighting Knights responded with a goal from Paolo
Vaz off two connecting passes by Scott Gordon and Kyle Conrad.
After several blocked shots in the 29th minute, junior
Jordan Moses
put the ball in the back of the net to give the Spartans the lead going into
the half.
“I thought our payers did a fantastic job with our adjustments,” Tampa
head coach Adrian
Bush said. “We understand this is just one step closer to our goal.”
The second half saw scoreless back-and-forth play for much of the period
until a long pass from
Ryan Griffin
met Milien downfield. Milien shot and the rebound found junior Chris O’Brien
who scored his first career goal as a Spartan to put the game away with less
than a minute remaining.
Six yellow cards were issued to the Fighting Knights during the match and
three to the Spartans. At the final whistle, two red cards were also issued
to Lynn players as tension mounted.
“The difference tonight was our discipline and that is what I’m proud
of—the class our players showed from the opening whistle until the end,”
Bush continued. “It’s a good win, but we know Sunday will be bigger than
today.”
Ryan Thompson
made five saves in goal for Tampa, while Salvatore finished with two.
The Spartans will face off against the winner of first-seed and host
Rollins and fourth-seed Barry on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Winter Park. Fans can
follow livestats on www.tampaspartans.com.
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