USF women lose 1-0 at home

South Florida (5-5-3) lost a close match to Providence College (7-5-2) in a Big East Conference game at home on Friday night. A thirty-six minute goal by the Friars and the Bulls inability to convert any of its ten shots on the night led to their five match unbeaten streak coming to an end.

The final home game of the season for the South Florida women in this Sunday at Noon against Connecticut.

Three quick goals sink UT women

On Friday, Florida Southern (8-5-0) was able to get three goals past Spartan keeper, Kendall Bourdon, in the opening twenty-two minutes and then sit on that 3-0 lead until full time. The UT (5-7-1)defense was able to recover after the opening barrage and only gave up one shot after going down the three goals, however, the Spartans were not able to get any goals back.

UT's next game is away to Eckerd College on Wednesday.

Spartan men whip Moccasins 4-0

Next time you hear a professional player or coach complain about fixture congestion because of too many midweek games, consider UT. Four games in seven days. Four wins. Two by shutout. Pretty impressive work from the third ranked team in Division II.

The college season is compact and littered with stretches such as this and they have to attend class as well. Should be a coach's nightmare, but the Spartans (9-0-1) kept rolling on Friday with a 4-0 dismantling of Florida Southern (1-8-0).

The contest was over before the first half was over thanks to three UT goals in the opening half. Leading scorer Pascal Milien turned into assist man on the first two goals by Lister Warren and Brian Fekete. Right before halftime, Zach Fraser made it 3-0 on an assist by Ryan Griffin. In the second half, the Spartans got a late goal to round out the scoring in the seventy-third minute by Greg Davies.

Ryan Thompson made six saves to record UT's second straight shutout.

The win puts Tampa just three points back of the conference leader Rollins College with one game in hand. After three days rest, UT is back in action on the road to Eckerd College.

Spartan reserves beat Webber 1-0

UT coach Adrian Bush was able to rest several regular starters in this afternoon's match against Webber International and still keep his team unbeaten in 2009. Leading assist man, Dan Ingvarsson, goalkeeper Ryan Thompson, and Brian Fekete all started the eight previous matches but were give the afternoon off.

One team leader who did play scored the game's only goal. Pascal Milien, who has scored nearly half of all Spartan goals this season, netted his eighth goal of the season in the twenty-sixth minute of play on an assist by Mike Bethel.

In the UT net Clete Goddard, a junior from Tampa, got to make his first start for the Spartans and posted a shutout after making five saves in the match. Prior to today, Goddard had only appeared briefly in three other games in his career.

UT will now turn its attention back to Sunshine State Conference action this Friday at Pepin Stadium, when Tampa plays host to Florida Southern at 7:30pm.

Lions roar in dual wins

Both of St Leo's programs got much needed victories on Tuesday and did so in style. The men (4-6-0) beat visiting Thomas University 4-1 in front of 287 at University Field. Meanwhile, the women (4-2-1) drilled Palm Beach Atlantic University 7-2 on the road. Neither match was a Sunshine State Conference fixture.

Thomas University was overwhelmed by their hosts, being outshot 25-14 on the day and surrendering four unanswered goals before stealing a late goal. Lions goalkeeper Erik Mozzo made four saves to break St Leo's five game losing streak.

St Leo's leading scorer Jonathan Glenn had a first half brace in the third and twenty-third minute to the Lions a 2-0 lead before the half hour mark. Glenn now has fifteen points on the season (seven goals and one assist). In the thirty-first minute, Bruce Cutler put the Lions up 3-0 with his third goal of 2009 and the first half ended with the game going St Leo's way.

The Lions added a fourth goal on the hour mark when reserve Freddy Menor scored his second goal of the season. The Night Hawks ruined Mozzo's shutout bid in the seventy-sixth minute when Alex Flemming scored, but one consolation goal was all that Thomas University could muster.

While the men were collecting their first win since September 11th, the St Leo women were pounding the Sailfish on the road to collect their fourth win of the season.

Two goals by Lions scoring ace Hannah Beard bookended a seven goal performance by the St Lo offense. Beard's first goal was in the ninth minute and the Sailfish responded by leveling the match one minute later. St Leo then scored four unanswered first half goals to put the game out of reach of their hosts. Senior Sara Macko scored in the eighteenth minute and Pia Soesemann in the twenty-fourth, which both players' fourth of the season. Kelli Jones and Aija Bent-Trinder rounded out the first half scoring for the Lions.

Palm Beach Atlantic's Angie Kuhn cut the Lions' lead to 5-2 in the fifty-ninth minute, but then it was all St Leo from there on out. Andrea Lott added a sixth goal, her first of the year, in the seventy-seventh minute. Finally, Beard scored her ninth of 2009 in the eightieth minute.

Lions keeper Kelcee Mai made just her second start of the year and made six saves to record her third victory.

The St Leo women will host Lynn on Friday night in a Sunshine State Conference match. On Saturday night, the St Leo men return to conference action against visiting Lynn University.

Spartan men come from behind to stay unbeaten

The Spartans (7-0-1) managed to pull out a 2-1 win on Tuesday afternoon on the road at Palm Beach Atlantic University (5-4-1). It required Pascal Milien, Tampa's leading scorer, to net two late goals to engineer a comeback win for third-ranked UT. This was the second leg of a four match in seven day run for UT.

The Sailfish struck first in the sixty-seventh minute after the first hour of play went scoreless. The goal sparked UT to equalize several minutes later when Milien on a Greg O'Connor assist. With time slipping away, O'Connor and Milien teamed up once again in the eighty-fourth minute for Pascal's seventh goal of the season, which edged out Palm Beach Atlantic.

On Wednesday, UT will meet up with Webber University in Lake Wales.

UT and USF creep up in the polls

Both the Spartans (6-0-1) and the Bulls (7-1-1) were recognized for good results from last week in the NSCAA poll released today.

UT beat the top ranked Lynn University team on Saturday evening and edged up in the Division II rankings from number four last week, to number three this week. Lynn's loss to the Spartans dumped them all the way to number fourteen.

USF jumped from number six last week to number three this week on the strength of two shutouts. The results helped South Florida leapfrog number four UCLA. The Bulls will take their spiffy new ranking on the road to number twelve Louisville on Wednesday night as part of their Big East schedule.