Box Score
Dan Ingvarsson scored a pair of unassisted goals, and Pascal Milien assisted two others as 10th-ranked University of Tampa downed Florida Southern 4-1 in the Moccasins' home finale Friday night.
The Spartans (13-2-1, 5-2) came out gunning right from the start, picking up a corner kick 40 seconds into the game and forcing Paul DiPalma into a save two minutes later when he stopped Ryan Maxwell one-on-one. Tampa would pick up four shots in the first 9:11 of the game, the fourth one a rope by Ingvarsson on a direct free kick from the top left corner of the box.
Five minutes later, Lister Warren made it 2-0 when he was on the receiving end of a downfield pass from Milien, and took it into the box for a shot from 15 yards.
"We didn't come out the way we wanted," said FSC coach Hugh Seyfarth. "We were a little timid at the start and it definitely showed."
The Moccasins (3-11, 2-5) settled down though, and fought there way back into the game behind Givi Kokaia. The sophomore forward gave the Mocs strong scoring chances in the 17th and 27th minutes, and it took a pair of equally impressive plays by Tampa to keep Florida Southern off the board.
The first came off a corner kick from Dennie Townsend, with Kokaia hitting a shot from close range that was on target. However, UT defender Zach Fraser stopped it on the line, preventing the ball from reaching the goal. Later it was Daniel Heaney who set up Kokaia with another good look inside the box, but this time goalkeeper Ryan Thompson made an almost unbelievable save on a shot that was headed into the upper right corner of the net.
"After the first 20 minutes, we really calmed down and started to play our game. We got the opportunities we were looking for, but they cleared one right off the line and goalkeeper made a spectacular save. That was an All-American play. It could have easily been 2-2 at the half."
Instead, Tampa still held a 2-0 lead, which they expanded on in the 52nd minute when Ingvarsson converted a penalty kick for his fourth goal of the year. An assist could have easily been given to Milien, who drew the foul inside the box that created the kick.
Florida Southern got on the scoreboard in the 79th minute on a play created by Eoghan Conlon. The Moccasin midfielder worked his way into the box coming out of the right corner, and though Tampa stopped him, the ball was cleared short and right to Townsend. Townsend then hit a shot from almost 25 yards that dropped just over Thompson and into the upper left corner of the net.
Tampa then closed out the scoring with 1:31 remaining when Andrej Gulan connected from the right side of the box.
"I thought we'd done a good job of re-gaining our composure tonight, but the penalty kick just killed us. The effort was tremendous though. We had to play a man down after that, got a great goal from Dennie, and only gave up one at the very end."
"You have to give credit to Tampa though. Adrian Bush has put together a very good team."
The Spartans out-shot the Moccasins 24-7, and DiPalma finished with a career-high eight saves. Thompson had to make only one for Tampa, though it was a difficult play. The junior from Jamaica, who leads the SSC in saves and ranks second in the country in save percentage, was denied his eighth shutout though by Townsend.
Florida Southern will conclude the regular season on Wednesday when it travels to Boca Raton for a 3:00 p.m. match against #2 Lynn University.
