Box Score MELBOURNE, Fla. - It is no secret that the path through the Sunshine State Conference is a difficult one - especially on the road.
After playing its first five games of the season at home, the Eckerd men's soccer team traveled for the first time to face a strong Florida Tech squad and suffered its first loss of the season, falling 3-2 to the Panthers.
The Tritons (5-1, 1-1 SSC) never held the lead, although they twice equalized the match after Florida Tech goals.
FIT opened the scoring in the 14th minute on a goal by Sam Sawyer, finishing a corner kick by Josh Thomas. Eckerd evened the match in the 31st minute on
Matheus Assumpcao's fourth goal of the season after he punched in a rebound of his own penalty kick. The score remained 1-1 until halftime.
Both teams hit the post early in the second half, the first near-miss by EC's
Moritz Hannemann. That missed opportunity played a factor a few minutes later.
The Panthers (3-0-1, 1-0 SSC) retook the lead in the 57th minute when Evan Enders dribbled through the Triton defense and sent a shot inside the left post. Riding the momentum from the go-ahead goal, FIT continued to send shots toward the Triton goal but
Alex Gott was able to stop the balls placed on frame.
Eckerd got a second equalizer in the 69th minute from
Robert Labus, who ripped a shot from 20 yards out into the upper right corner.
The tie, however, was short-lived as Florida Tech got what turned out to be the game-winning goal four minutes later from Brandon Smalley.
From there, the Panther defense clamped down allowing Eckerd only one more shot the rest of the night.
Florida Tech out-shot the Tritons, 19-6, including a 14-3 edge in shots in the second half.
"A full week's preparation for our opponents showed as they came out very spirited and energetic," said EC head coach
Ian Cameron. "In phases of the game, we perhaps lacked the juice in our legs to compete with their aggressive and direct play. We will use these next three days to regroup, to learn from video and to get a couple of training sessions in before we're back in action. Luckily, college soccer provides no time to sulk and we get an opportunity to get better again in four days when we travel to Florida Southern."
The Tritons head to Lakeland to visit Florida Southern on Wednesday for a 7:00 PM kickoff.
