St Petersburg FL - A late goal by junior
Bailey Lopez in the 88th minute propelled the Shorter Hawks men's soccer team to a 4-3 win over Eckerd College Sunday afternoon.
The win helped the Hawks to split a tough two game road trip in the Florida heat and weather against a pair of Sunshine State Conference teams
The Hawks battled through warm temperatures in the 90's Sunday afternoon and fell behind 1-0 early to EC. But
Mattia Maiello took advantage of a Triton defensive error with the equalizer in the 30th minute for his first goal of the season to make it 1-1 at the half.
Three minutes after the break, senior
Jason Ortega fired home a
Davide Maiello cross to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. The advantage was short lived as the Tritons answered two minutes later to knot the game at 2.
The Hawks regained the lead when
Mattia Maiello set up
Isaac Franklin from 12 yards out for the sophomore's first collegiate goal. Franklin's goal in the 63rd minute appeared to be the difference as EC had a player ejected just five minutes later. But a short handed goal by the Tritons leveled the score 3-3 in the 82nd minute.
Bailey's heroics then came into play on a brilliant free kick to secure the win and push the Hawks to 2-1 on the season while EC falls to 0-4.
Matt Allen help lead the Hawk defense in the intense heat while Javy Flores recorded his 2nd collegiate win on goal with 2 saves.
Weather also factored into Friday's match at Florida Southern College as the Hawks waited out a two-hour delay due to lightning before losing 4-0.
"We demonstrated a lot of resiliency to bounce back today at Eckerd after Friday's debacle," said Coach
Paul Furey. "It was tough starting a game after 10:00 pm Friday. But it's also tough playing an afternoon game in the Florida heat. The depth of our bench players made a difference as we finished strong and created a number of very good scoring chances late before Bailey settled the issue."
The Hawks return home this Friday to open conference play with Christian Brothers University.
