Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Recognizing five members of its senior class, the Eckerd College men's soccer program left it all on the field in a double-overtime scoreless tie against Florida Southern College on Tuesday night, 0-0.
With
Chris Moore,
Andrew Hoffer,
Turner Humphries and
Daniel Lopez, all appearing in their final regular-season home game on Senior Night, the Tritons (7-7-2, 4-3-1 SSC) dueled the Mocs (2-11-2, 4-3-1 SSC) with the Sunshine State Conference slate already finalized.
Another senior, captain
Matt Duffy, was cheering on his teammates from the sidelines after being sidelined with an injury that prevented him from playing in what would have been his 65th career game.
The Tritons handed Florida Southern a 5-0 defeat earlier in the season in Lakeland with that match counting towards the league standings.
In a fierce defensive struggle, the Tritons had a would-be goal by freshman
Mitchell Metzger waved off due to an offsides call. The Tritons were called offsides 10 times on the evening.
Freshman
Joe Swindell broke ahead of the pack and ripped off a shot in the 86th minute of regulation that was deflected by FSC keeper Brent Theriault, his third and arguably most important save of the evening.
But Hoffer matched Theriault's production in the other end of the net, also recording three saves.
Hoffer's most memorable save came on a laser drilled by Niklas Davidsson after the Moc settled the ball down from a high bounce. The ball nestled into Hoffer's sure-handed padding following the shot and thwarted a strong FSC scoring opportunity.
The two teams managed just a combined 13 shots in the 110-minute affair, a testament to the defensive intensity and physical play on the field.
FSC was able to manufacture 10 corner kicks, but the Mocs were unable to capitalize on the set play.
Neither team took a shot in the first overtime session, but in the second overtime frame, Swindell and sophomore
Matt Dolan kept the crowd on the edge of their seats with two shots that were just off target.
The bracket for the SSC Tournament is scheduled to be announced later this week as the Tritons prepare for postseason play. EC wraps up the regular season with a road non-conference match at Barry University on Saturday at 7 p.m.
