Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Undaunted by a No. 7 national ranking from its opponent, the Eckerd College men's soccer program gave Saint Leo University all it could handle to appropriately commemorate Senior Night in defeat at the Turley Athletic Complex on Wednesday, 1-0.
A thru ball off a corner kick just one minute before halftime was the lone damage done by the Lions (12-1-1, 6-0-1 SSC) in the second meeting against the Tritons (4-10-2, 2-5-0 SSC).
As a result, tonight's final sets up a must-win situation at Barry University on Saturday for Eckerd's postseason hopes in the Sunshine State Conference Championship bracket.
The Tritons control their own destiny for one of the coveted six seeds in the conference tourney with the regular-season finale looming against the Buccaneers this weekend.
Saint Leo is poised for a compelling Saturday showdown at home for a shot at the regular-season SSC crown (and No. 1 seed in the SSC Championship) against undefeated and No. 1-ranked Rollins College.
Prior to the game, seniors
Mark Lee,
Seb Marley,
Daniel Lopez,
Anthony Brenner,
John Damasco and
Toni Virtanen, were joined by their parents and teammates on the field in a special ceremony to recognize their career accomplishments.
"I'm proud of the guys for leaving it all on the field tonight," said EC Head Coach Steve Magee. "We are focused and dialed into Saturday's match (at Barry). For our seniors, they played their hearts out and I'm very grateful for their commitment and contributions to the program."
The Tritons fell to then-No. 17 Saint Leo earlier in the season during non-conference play, but kept the Lions on their heels all evening in their regular-season home finale.
Eckerd sophomore
Nick Jackson had a would-be goal wiped out by an offsides call with about 14 minutes left to play in the first half that would have given the Tritons the lead.
But Saint Leo's Chris Lavie was the recipient of a line-drive corner kick from Edgar Herrera that skipped through the box and was deposited to the back of the net to head into halftime with the momentum.
For Lavie, it was his fourth goal of the fall, and Herrera notched his eighth assist of the season.
The EC defense kept Saint Leo's top offensive guns, Maxmilian Schulze-Geisthovel and Javeim Blanchette, in check this time around after both forwards did damage in the first matchup.
The Tritons pressed Saint Leo's defense in the second half and forced Lions' goalkeeper Manuel Schoenhuber to make a sprawling save by the post off a shot from junior forward
Matt Dolan in the closing moments.
Schoenhuber made three saves on the night while Virtanen, making his last home start in net for EC, stopped six Saint Leo shots.
EC entered the night tied with Florida Southern College in the SSC standings and was a half game up on the University of Tampa.
The Tritons will head to Miami Shores for the pivotal clash against Barry with a 4:30 p.m. start time scheduled on Saturday. The seedings for the SSC Championship will be announced shortly after by the league office.
