Box Score
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Facing its second nationally-ranked top-25 opponent in a week, the Eckerd College men's soccer program met another daunting challenge head on to emerge with a scoreless double-overtime tie against No. 9 Barry University on Saturday, 0-0.
One hundred ten minutes wasn't enough time to determine a victor in a gritty Sunshine State Conference showdown as shots were hard to come by in a foreshadowed defensive struggle.
The Tritons (6-3-1, 1-1-1 SSC) were coming off an upset victory against No. 24 Saint Leo University earlier this week and had the same aspirations against the Buccaneers (7-1-1, 1-1-1 SSC), whose lone loss this season was against No. 1 Rollins College.
Barry held a minor 17-16 advantage in the shot department, but the Eckerd defense kept leading Sunshine State Conference scorer Mark Anderson (15 G, 1 A) in check with 11 shots that were all offline.
“I'm extremely proud of our guys for going in and getting the result they produced,” EC Head Coach Steve Magee said. “It was a very hard-fought match that could have gone either way. Our defense concentrated on (Mark) Anderson because he's a dangerous scorer and our communication in the back was superb.”
The aggressive match was checkered with 33 fouls, including eight yellow cards and two red cards issued.
Eckerd was left shorthanded in the 96th minute as a result of the two reds, but despite the disadvantage, the Tritons had a series of corner kicks in the down the stretch that were nearly converted.
A potential match-winning
Anthony Arico shot was saved in dramatic fashion with two minutes remaining in regulation.
EC goalkeeper
Toni Virtanen went the distance in net to record six saves in his 110 minutes on the field.
The Tritons return home on Wednesday to play host to Nova Southeastern University. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. at the Turley Athletic Complex.
