Cleveland, MS – Spring Hill men's soccer won the Gulf South Conference regular season title Thursday by virtue of their 5-2 victory over Delta State University. With only one game remaining, SHC is guaranteed a first place finish and the top seed for the GSC tournament. The Badgers have also earned a first round bye and some extra rest prior to the semi-finals. This marks SHC's first men's soccer regular season title on program history.
The Badgers built out a 4-1 first half lead despite extremely wet and sloppy conditions. GSC Player of the Year candidate
Alex Lipinski kick started the Badger offense with the first two goals of the contest. His first goal came in the 6
th minute off an assist from Matt Moreno. The duo connected again just 11 minutes later when Moreno fed Lipinski for a beautiful goal between defenders. SHC kept up the attack and scored goal number 3 in the 26
th minute when
Jack LaForge sent home a header off a free kick from
Cyril Giraud to put SHC up 3-0. Delta State scored a goal at the 30 minute mark to cut the Badger lead to 3-1. However, the Badgers could smell a championship and reasserted control when
Vassil Kokali put the Badgers up 4-1 off of assists from
Diogo Sousa and
George Brown.
Spring Hill put the game away coming out of the half when
Luca Carrese headed a pass from
Konstantinos Varesis into the net for a 5-1 Badger advantage just 4 minutes into the second half. Delta State would tack on a meaningless goal for the 5-2 final score.
Barou Ndaw made 3 saves against 11 shots to earn the victory in goal.
"Today's win typifies our team," said Head Coach
Steve Wieczorek. "We faced adversity as the weather was a major factor and still found a way to get the result. I am proud to work with these exceptional young men. It's a great achievement to win the GSC regular season title in our first year of eligibility and for the first time in program history. My staff deserves a tremendous amount of credit and thanks for their work as well. In the end, the players set a goal, pursued it relentlessly and deserve to be called regular season champions."
The Badgers (14-1, 10-0 GSC) will conclude the regular season when they travel to Clinton, MS to take on Mississippi College at 3:30 PM on Saturday.
