ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A three-goal second half fueled a dominant Sunshine State Conference opener as the Eckerd men's soccer team took a 4-0 victory over Embry-Riddle at Johnson Field Saturday night.
Eckerd put pressure on the Eagles early, riffling off four shots inside the first 17 minutes. EC broke through in the 21st minute as Fredrick Heise slid a pass to Lucus Berglund inside of the 18, who sent in a low shot inside the right post for an early 1-0 lead. EC continued its aggressive play, outshooting ERAU 10-4 in the first half, but EC could not add another goal, taking a 1-0 lead into intermission.
The Tritons continued their aggressive offense in the second half, as Harry Laing collected a rebound off Heise's shot for the second goal in the 56th minute. Ten minutes later, Eckerd took a 3-0 lead, with Tommy Shepherd scoring off a pass from Finn Steele across the 18. Finally, Gabriel Farid sealed the game with an 89th-minute goal off a throw-in from Aaron Ristorcelli.
HOW IT ENDED
FINAL: Eckerd 4, Embry-Riddle 0
RECORDS: Eckerd 2-1-2 (1-0 SSC); Embry-Riddle 1-1-1 (0-1 SSC)
SCORING SUMMARY: EC - 21' Berglund (Heise), 56' Laing (Heise), 65' Shepherd (Steele), 89' Farid (Ristorcelli)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Aidan Leak, Viktor Milton, and Tommy Lamb played the full 90 minutes.
- Heise and Shepherd led Eckerd with four shots each.
- Eckerd held a 21-8 advantage in shots and an 11-5 edge in shots on frame.
- Berglund's and Farid's goals were the first of their careers.
- Laing added his first goal of the season and the fourth of his career.
- Shepherd netted his second goal of the season and the 16th of his career. His 16 goals rank tied for 14th in program history.
- Leak tallied five saves in goal.
- Eckerd's four goals are the most in an SSC contest since a 4-2 win over Saint Leo on October 3, 2018.
- The win over the Eagles is the first since 2018, after drawing ERAU the past two seasons.
UP NEXT
Eckerd travels to Florida Southern on Wednesday for a 7:00 PM start.
