Box Score MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - As the Barry and Eckerd men's soccer teams took the field on Thursday, both had a lot for which to play.
For Eckerd, a win or a draw would have clinched a spot in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. Â Barry, on the other hand, needed a win to stay in the postseason hunt.
The Bucs kept their season's hopes alive, pulling out a narrow 4-3 win over the Tritons in a contest rescheduled from October 5.
Barry wasted little time getting on the board as Thomas Coombes received a pass in the center of the box from Hanno Antoni and put the ball into the net in the seventh minute.
The Bucs (9-5, 3-5 SSC) struck again in the 27th minute when Antoni stepped in front of a pass sent into the Eckerd back line, setting up a one-on-one with EC keeper
Alex Gott who narrowly missed stopping Antoni's shot as it went into the bottom right corner.
Eckerd cut the deficit in half just before the break when
Matheus Assumpcao picked up a ball knocked off the feet of
Robert Labus by a Barry defender. Â Assumpcao ripped a shot from close range that bounced off the left post into the right-side netting in the 42nd minute.
EC (7-5-3, 3-4-2 SSC) almost found an equalizer before halftime as
Juan David Tejada worked through the defense with under a minute left, but his shot to the right post was stopped by Barry keeper Michael Scheraldi.
The second half saw a flurry of early goals with Coombes notching his second score in the 50th minute, only for Assumpcao to answer with his second goal after
Moritz Hannemann slid a pass to him near the six-yard box.
The Bucs, however, pushed their lead back to a two-goal margin fewer than two minutes later when Antoni dribbled down the right side and sent a shot from distance into the net.
Eckerd once again narrowed the gap in the 62nd minute when
Mauricio Salvatierra's shot from distance was redirected by a Buc defender, finding its way into the right corner to pull the Tritons within a goal.
But EC couldn't produce an equalizer despite late chances from Labus and
Westleigh Rush as Barry held on for an important conference win.
The loss eliminates Eckerd from the possibility of taking the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and hosting a first-round game, but the Tritons can still receive a bid into the SSC tournament depending on the outcome of a pair of Saturday matches. Â A loss or draw by either Barry or Saint Leo would give Eckerd the No. 6 seed, while a loss or draw by both would give the team the fifth seed.
