Box Score MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's soccer team ended up on the short end of a tough defensive battle in the opening round of the SSC Tournament on Tuesday night to Florida Tech, 1-0.
Rain came down 10 minutes before kickoff making for a slick playing surface throughout the contest.
Defense was the name of the game in the first half with both teams fighting hard to get on the board first knowing a trip to the semifinals hung in the balance.
The Panthers threatened early with a header in the third minute of the contest, but a save by keeper
Alex Gott kept the game at 0-0.
Gott making brilliant saves to keep his team in the game became a reoccurring theme throughout the night.
Battling the wet surface, the Triton defenders stepped up denying every opportunity FIT had in the first half to go into halftime, 0-0.
Six minutes into the second half, the Panthers broke the tie with a goal by Josh Thomas.
The game was not over yet and the Triton offense began to get some momentum.
In the 67
th minute,
Richard Ainscough took a shot sending the ball out of the reach of the diving Panthers goalie only to hit the post and bounce out of the box.
The defense for EC continued to hold strong with Gott getting big save after big save.
A corner kick by
Nick Jackson with one minute remaining was the last chance for the Tritons, but they could not capitalize and fell to FIT, 1-0.
Eckerd will say good-bye to seniors
Alexander Starzynski,
Marcus Lohrmann,
Dean Hobbis,
Matt Dolan,
Nick Murawski,
Connor Montgomery,
Jack Walsh,
Timothy Farrell and
Thomas Zimath.
"I am so proud of this senior class," said Head Coach,
Cristian Neagu. "They have done everything I have asked of them and as a result we are far better today than we were on day one. This gives us something to build on as a program."
