Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. – Tyler Blackwood scored his fourth goal of the season in the 10th minute of play as seventh-ranked University of Tampa held on to defeat the Eckerd College men's soccer team in its Sunshine State Conference opener on Saturday, 1-0.
The Tritons (2-3, 0-1 SSC) fired off 10 shots in an attempt to record the equalizer, but the Spartans (4-0-1, 1-0 SSC) and their defense held strong.
EC was missing key personnel in the starting lineup as both leading scorers, junior midfielder
Mark Lee (2 G) and freshman
Nick Jackson (1 G, 2 A), sat out from cards accumulated against Rollins College earlier in the week.
“I was proud of the way our players fought back from the disappointment the other night (against Rollins),” EC Head Coach Steve Magee said. “We're disappointed with the result, but it's a step in the right direction and we're going to try and earn the first win in conference on Wednesday against Florida Tech.”
The Tritons were hoping for similar results based on their last visit to Pepin Stadium, victories over No. 18 Clayton State (Ga.) University and North Georgia College & State University, just a few weeks ago.
But after playing their second nationally-ranked opponent in a week (No. 23 Rollins), the Tritons were outshot 24-10 and All-SSC junior goalkeeper
Toni Virtanen had another busy night in net with eight saves.
At the 10:40 in the first half, Blackwood squeezed in a shot off of a pass from teammate Craig Laird.
Blackwood was UT's hero when the Spartans also beat Clayton State as the sophomore forward recorded a hat trick.
A few minutes prior to the lone goal, Laird had a shot that was saved and Blackwood put pressure on the EC defense with a header that was errant.
Junior defender/midfielder
Anthony Brenner had three shots against the Tampa defense.
UT netminder David Niepel recorded a pair of saves in the shutout effort, including one with five minutes left in regulation off the foot of Triton sophomore
Connor Montgomery.
The Tritons will look to make up ground in the conference standings on Wednesday night, welcoming Florida Tech for another SSC meeting at the Turley Athletic Complex. The match between EC and the Panthers will start at 7:30 p.m.
Live stats and video/audio will be streamed live on EckerdTritons.com.
