Tritons Battle to Draw with No. 8 Florida Tech

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - If the final 65 minutes of tonight's match are any indication, the Eckerd College men's soccer team has the ability to play with anyone in the country.

The Tritons dominated possession from halftime on and scored an equalizer in the 72nd minute to earn a 1-1 draw with No. 8 Florida Tech on Saturday night at the Turley Athletic Complex.

Second-year Cristian Neagu said the team didn't do much differently from a tactical standpoint in the second half, but rather played with more confidence.

"We are still a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores," he said.  "They're still getting used to the quality of our conference.  We had a good chat at halftime."

Whatever they talked about certainly worked.  

After FIT (2-0-1, 0-0-1) out-shot the Tritons in the first half, 8-4, and broke EC's scoreless streak with a Jack Willison goal in the 33rd minute, Eckerd took control from the moment the second half began.  EC didn't allow the Panthers another shot until the 83rd minute.

Meanwhile, the Tritons (3-0-1, 0-0-1) had several opportunities and finally broke through in the 72nd minute to equalize the match.  Richard Ainscough sent in a set piece from deep, where Liam Guest out-jumped his defender to flick a header to Matheus Assumpcao running on at the left post.  Alone behind the keeper, Assumpcao headed the ball into the net for his third goal of the season.

While neither team had many quality chances for the remainder of regulation, both had moments where they could have finished in overtime.

First, it was Eckerd that almost put the match away.  A foul just outside the box set up a free kick from good position for the Tritons.  Ainscough put a hard strike on the set piece, but FIT's Mitch Thorn was able to make the save.

Early in the second overtime, the Panthers took a flurry of shots but the Triton defense held strong in forcing the attempts to go off-frame.  Then it was Eckerd's turn again as an Assumpcao shot barely missed the right post in the 106th minute, and another Ainscough free kick was stopped by Thorn in the 108th minute.

That turned out to be the last true scoring chance for either team.

Shots in the match were nearly equal with 16 for Florida Tech and 15 for Eckerd.  Alex Gott was excellent in goal again for the Tritons, turning away six shots.

While a win would have certainly been nice, Neagu and his team will take plenty of positives away from tonight's contest.

"It's a big confidence boost for us," he said.  "Some of the young guys are realizing we're not that far off.  We played a very good team here tonight.  We had a couple of good chances late that I felt we could have put away but I am happy with the result."

The Tritons return to the pitch on Wednesday as they host Florida Southern at 7:00 PM at the Turley Athletic Complex.