Tritons Celebrate Senior Night with 2-1 Win over Nova Southeastern

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd men's soccer team celebrated senior night with an important win in Sunshine State Conference play, overcoming an early deficit to post a 2-1 victory over Nova Southeastern on Saturday night at Johnson Field.

After NSU took opened the scoring in the 28th minute, a goal by Moritz Hannemann in the 38th minute equalized the match and a goal by Robert Labus in the 79th minute proved to be the game-winner.

"In some respects, that was our best game of the year because we went a goal down and showed big heart and determination to fight our way back," said EC head coach Ian Cameron.

The Sharks took the lead when Bestun Mohammed punched in a rebound of a shot from Noel Johnson from close range.  EC keeper Alex Gott made a diving save to keep Johnson's attempt out of the net, but the ball deflected to the feet of Mohammed who put in his fifth goal in as many matches.

Eckerd, though, made the most of its next opportunity, when Labus slid a short cross into the box to Hannemann who quickly fired it past NSU keeper Nico Rosiglioni to equalize the match.

Both teams played strong defense in the second half with Eckerd's Gott making multiple quality saves before the Tritons struck again with 11 minutes to play.  Matheus Assumpcao laid the ball off to Labus on the left side, where the sophomore lofted a perfectly-placed shot over the hands of Rosiglioni just underneath the crossbar for his sixth goal of the season.

Eckerd then kept the Sharks from getting off another shot for the remainder of the match to complete the win.

It was the sixth one-goal loss in conference play for Nova Southeastern (3-10, 1-7 SSC).

"Everyone in the conference knows that Nova are better than their record," Cameron said, "and tonight was a good, hard-fought SSC matchup."

The win helps Eckerd (7-4-2, 3-3-1 SSC) keep pace in the race for a spot in the conference tournament as the three points gained tonight puts the Tritons in a tie for fifth place.  EC plays twice next week, both nights on the road, visiting Rollins on Tuesday and Barry on Thursday as the team attempts to extend its season into November.

All 11 of the Tritons' starters tonight played the full 90 minutes.

"It's no secret that I strung some guys out there tonight," Cameron said, "but when lads like Westleigh Rush can come off an injury and play 90 very effective minutes, then you're vindicated for the gamble."

Before the match, Eckerd honored the program's three seniors - Jordan Lee, Antonio Alvarez and Mauricio Salvatierra.  All three have played key roles in the program since their arrivals with a combined 114 starts.

Eckerd's visit to Rollins is a make-up of an October 1 contest that was rained out.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.