MEN'S SOCCER GAMEDAY: Eckerd at Lynn

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - November brings about the start of the post-season for the Eckerd men's soccer team as they open play in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, for a 6:00 PM kickoff.

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SETTING THE STAGE
Tuesday's match will be a repeat of a hotly-contested regular-season contest that took place at the Turley Athletic Complex on October 17, which Lynn won 4-3 in double overtime. The lead changed hands twice and the Tritons equalized the match in the 90th minute to send it to overtime. The Knights eventually netted the golden goal in the 107th minute when Tomer Bitton punched in a rebound of a Chris Hellman free kick. The winner of tonight's match will face No. 1 seed Saint Leo in the semifinals on Friday.

IN THE TOURNAMENT
Eckerd and Lynn last faced off in the SSC Tournament in 2012. The match went scoreless for 110 minutes, heading to penalty kicks where the Tritons walked away with a 5-4 victory to knock off the top-seeded Knights on their home field to advance to the championship game.

ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
- Lynn opens the 2015 post-season looking to defend its NCAA Division II National Championship from last season. The Knights won last year's conference tournament as well defeating Florida Tech in the championship match, 3-2.
- Lynn leads the conference in scoring, averaging 3.17 goals per match. Forward Chris Hellman leads the conference in several offensive categories including shots (57), points (42), goals (15) and assists per game (1.0). No other player on the roster has more than four goals.
- The Knights earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament by virtue of tiebreaker over Eckerd. The two have identical 4-3-1 conference marks, but Lynn's head-to-head win gave the team the higher seed and home-field advantage in the first round. The Knights moved into the spot after knocking off then-first place Tampa on October 29, 2-1, on a pair of late goals.
- Lynn is 5-2-1 at home this season with losses to Saint Leo and Rollins and a draw with Palm Beach Atlantic.

ABOUT THE TRITONS
- Eckerd is making its second straight trip to the post-season under head coach Cristian Neagu. Last year, the Tritons dropped a tight 1-0 decision to Florida Tech in the opening round.
- The Tritons needed a win on Thursday night at Saint Leo in order to clinch the conference's regular season title, but fell behind 3-0 early in the second half. A pair of goals by Richard Ainscough got EC back within striking distance but the team couldn't net the equalizer. Saint Leo went on to win the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
- Ainscough leads the team in goals with seven, good for a tie for seventh in the conference, and in assists with five, tied for sixth in conference.
- Alex Gott enters the night with six clean sheets on the season, ranking third in Eckerd program history for the most in a season. He leads the SSC in shutouts and ranks second in save percentage (.767).

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